Rose Ashmore: Year of the Wolf Bk 1
by Forbidden1991
Summary: Rose Ashmore, has had a cursed life since day one but when she leaves America and Wicca to go to England - a home that has haunted her since she could remember - and Hogwarts - to attend for her N.E.W.T.S, she meets the marauder's and a greasy haired boy.
1. Chapter 1: Night of the Undead

A/N: Hi guys thank's for taking a look at this and a large Thanks goes to my amazing Beta AndiePotter-Snape for reviewing this first chapter! This story will be an eventual SS/OC story but their will also be a lot of RL/OC first before we can get there. I hope you enjoy the first chapter and please remember to R&R as this is my very first HP multi-chapter fanfic!

**Full Summary:**

Rose Ashmore, has had a cursed life since day one but when she leaves America and Wicca (Wizard Intelligence for the Completely Capable Adolescent) to go to England - a home that has haunted her since she could remember - and Hogwarts - a school she was destined for - to attend for her N.E.W.T.S, she meets a group of friends, a hot werewolf and a single, greasy haired boy, that could change her life forever.

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><p>Chapter 1 - Night of the Undead<p>

It was a cold, bitter winter night. As the prophesy had fore-told a birth was occurring in the dying months.

Kayley Ashmore lay in a hospital bed in St. Mungo's. Yes, the night was cold, deadly cold but she could not feel it as her trembling body was drenched in her hot and sticky sweat. The strain of this phenomenal event had her body twisting and contorting in pain. She let out a blood curdling scream. It was minutes from midnight and Kayley only wished that this would be over.

"Almost there Kayley, just push a little further." The doctor announced not taking his eyes from the mother's opening.

Kayley grunted in response and tried to push it further, she strained to keep another blood curdling scream in and then the body-splitting pain stopped and there was silence. There were no cries from the mother and there were no cries from the new born child, and in this silence Kayley knew that something was wrong. _"In the dying months, on the thirteenth hour, When Mars and Pluto meet, a petal shall come forth from the womb of a snake." _The words floated through her mind. She was the snake, she had already guess as much, as she was a Slytherin but her child, _her_ child could not be the one the prophesy had foreseen but the silence in the room was indeed confirmation that it was _her _child, that was foreseen to die. _The dying months, the thirteenth hour, the dying months, the thirteenth hour. _It was like a chant, a mantra echoing through her mind and she knew in the silence that the child, _her _child was dead.

The doctors had clean the dying child of the blood that covered it's body. They had decided that it would be better for their patient to be able to hold the child for however long it took for it to die. The doctor cradled the dying child in his arms as he made his way back over to the awaiting mother. Before he could pass the child on to her mother he saw the understanding in his patient's eyes, she knew already that her child was far beyond saving.

"She's alive but she's very ill." The doctor murmured. He gestured his assistant to following him out of the room. The man that had brought Kayley in was waiting outside of the door. The doctor strode over to him to speak to the waiting man.

"Mrs Ashmore will need all the support that she can get, Mr Prothorow. Her child is dying and there is nothing we can do for her." He said trying to remain indifferent as he spoke to the man. Lewis Prothorow nodded his head in understanding, feeling a stab of pain for Kayley's loss. He had always felt something for Kayley Adams and his unrequited love had gone on when she had married John Ashmore but all he had been in her eyes was her best friend, and Lewis would have done anything, been anything to stay beside the woman he love's side.

Kayley watched Lewis as he walked to her side; he had been her best friend since her first year at Hogwarts. He had been the first to introduce her to Lord Voldemort or, as he had been known as then, Tom Riddle. He had been there for her wedding, had been the shoulder to cry on when John turned violent in a drunken haze. Lewis had always been there for her and now he was here again, at her daughter's birth and death. She smiled softly to the man and gestured to him to sit down on the bed beside her.

Lewis watched Kayley as she gave him a feeble smile, and he felt another stab of pain for this woman. He felt in his pocket the potion he had created that he had titled "Resurrection". He had been keeping it on his person ever since he had disobeyed his Lord but now Kayley was in need of a miracle, was in need of something to save her daughter but the question wasn't if he could had over the potion, because he would do it in a heartbeat. The question was could he doom _her_ child to a cursed life? Because that's exactly what would happen if Kayley fed the potion to her daughter.

Kayley watched Lewis watching her daughter, he was her best friend and she had fallen in love with him over the years but she had known that he would never love her in return so she settled for John. After a few moments Kayley murmured "My daughter is dying Lewis, she is dying in my arms. I'm afraid Lewis because I know, I can feel it, that there is no cure."

Lewis turned his eyes away from the child and meet Kayley's eyes he could see the fear in her eyes and the decision was made for him as he stared into the azure blue orbs. He pulled the resurrection potion from his pocket and handed it over to the woman before him. The potion was a deep opaque blood red colour. It had been concocted from the use of dark magic and it contained Unicorn blood and Phoenix tears; the strongest healing ingredients in the world. It contained other ingredients as well but he couldn't remember what they were. The potion was his original and only copy, and he knew that he would not be able to make it again.

"Fed this to her, Ley, and she will live but she will have to die first." Lewis murmured, fear flashed in Kayley's eyes but then a strong head-fast determination settled in her eyes and he knew exactly what she was thinking without the need of legimancy. Lewis got to his feet and made his way to the door to leave Kayley alone with her daughter until the child died.

"Lewis," She called him back, he turned around and met her azure blue eyes again. "Will you be Rosemarie's Godfather?" She asked a smile dancing on her lips. He smiled in return, and elation filled his chest for the first time that night.

"It would be an honour," He bowed deeply in a mocking way and elation filled him even more when he heard her giggle. He raised again, a smile gracing his lips and turned away from her. He didn't know where they would stand after this, he didn't know if Rosemarie would live at all but he hoped that he would never lose Kayley and that one day she would be his once John was gone.

Kayley watched her daughter struggling to draw breath and knew that Rosemarie was suffering. Kayley uncorked the potion and placed it to her daughter's lips, and with one movement of her hand the blood red potion slipped down her daughter's mouth.

She watched as her beautiful forest green eyes widen and flash blood red before returning back to normal but the life in those eyes drained away as they slowly changed back to normal. Her little pale chest slowly came to a stop and her body became limp within the mother's arms. Kayley cried over her daughters dead body and she hoped, hoped with all of her strength that Lewis was right, that her daughter would come back to life. Kayley spent the rest of the night crying for her daughter, she fell into a deep sleep as the night sky slowly brightened with pre-dawn light. No-one saw Lewis slip back into the room, No-one saw Lewis bend over the sleeping woman to kiss her lips and no-one saw Lewis remove the baby from the woman's arms to cradle the soon-to-be-living baby, until the woman awoke from her deep sleep.

No one saw the famous Arura Lucinda Adams striding down the maternity ward in her fast-paced stroll. No one noticed the smile gracing her lips, no-one would have known that on the thirteenth hour her only grandchild was born. To say that Lucinda wasn't happy about this event would be like saying that witches couldn't preform magic. Lucinda was elated that she had a grandchild and she was now making her way — as fast as she could without running — to see her daughter and grandchild.

Kayley had said goodbye to Lewis an hour ago, his mark had burned and he had to return to their Lord with news as to why Kayley could not be present at the meeting she knew was being held at that very moment but her mind was not occupied by Lewis or the Dark Lord, or what the meeting was even about. Her thoughts, her attention was for the bundle of joy in her arms, her daughter _alive_ and healthy as if nothing had happened to the child in the dead of the night at all. The doctors had proclaimed it to be a miracle and Kayley could do nothing but smile and agree with them.

It wasn't until Lucinda Adam and John Ashmore entered into the room that her attention was pulled away from Rosemarie. Kayley smiled as she saw her mother and husband enter into the room. Her smile faltered for a moment as she wished her father could be present too, but he had died years ago, killed in a battle against some dark wizard or another. Lucinda and John made their way to Kayley's bed and sat down in the chairs surrounding her bed. When Rosemarie had unlatched herself from her mother, Kayley handed over her daughter to her mother as she embraced John on the bed.

Lucinda took the tiny girl in her arms and felt joy spread through her heart as she looked down into the intelligent dark, forest green eyes. The child stretched her hand towards Lucinda's face and when the tiny hand touched her cheek, a memory that was not Lucinda's flashed into her mind.

_Darkness. Total and complete darkness. The heart pounded blood through the gains was starting and faltering, echoing uneven beats through the veins of the dying child. _The memory switched and again Lucinda was pulled into it. _A man sat on the bed, the mother's warm embrace protecting her from him. Words that the child could not understand echoed around her, understanding did not fill the child, and she held back her cries of fear. The man gave her mother something and then he left. She could feel her mother crying, why was she crying? And as she struggled to let out a cry, as she struggled to breath her mother put something to her lips. Before Rose could do anything the stuff was draining down her throat. Pain. Too much pain, it made her body burn, made her want to cry but she couldn't, her body wasn't working, her tiny heart was slowing and then it stopped._ The baby hand's left Lucinda's face and the new grandmother looked down into those deep and dark forest green eyes, and she saw the intelligence and understanding in the child's eyes. What on earth had just happened, the child had just shown her a memory of the night before. The child had not known the man in the memory but Lucinda did. She knew that it had been Lewis Prothorow, her daughter's best friend from her school days. _The half-blood_ her mind whispered, but Lucinda had never cared about blood status even though she herself was a pureblood.

Her eyes turned to her daughter and she knew she couldn't tell her daughter about what she had just seen. She couldn't understand what had happened but she knew that her daughter would not take kindly to what she had just seen, what she had just learnt. She couldn't comprehend how her daughter could allow for her own daughter to be mutilated in this fashion. Lucinda knew in her heart that the child would have more unusual gifts that would be born from this mutilation but she couldn't loathe the child, she only hated what her daughter had done to her granddaughter. She met John's eyes, eyes that beseeched her to hand over the child and without really thinking she did. She closed the curtains with a flick of her wand to give the new family some privacy and she returned to her thoughts as she strode away from the family and out of the hospital.

John happily took the baby from Lucinda's arms, not completely understanding the emotions swarming in Lucinda's eyes and looked down into the familiar eyes - so much like his own - set into the baby's face. He smiled as he watched the child stretching her tiny hands towards his face. "She's beautiful," he murmured and then the baby's hand connected with his face and he was pulled into the memory that the baby had just shown Lucinda. John couldn't do anything to pull himself out of the memory. He could only watch in fascination and horror as the memory played out in his mind.

When little Rose's hand fell from his face, John's mind returned to the present, his eyes still locked on his daughter's own eyes, so similar to his own. He realized that this was what had happened to Lucinda when she had blanked out. Somehow something had happened to little Rosemarie, true, he knew little of the wizarding world as he was — as his wife's friends sometimes accidentally let slip — a _muggle_, but still he somehow knew that something wasn't right. It had to have been done by Kayley no-one else had been with her besides the doctor – _and that other man, _his mind whispered but John pushed away the thought - and John doubted that this oddity would have been the doctor's fault. Yes, Kayley had been changing lately but he had thought those changes were due to the pregnancy.

It was strange, an oddity to his only child but he couldn't see her to hold any flaws. In his eyes his daughter was perfect, she could do no wrong. In his eyes, she was his little Rose, his little petal and she was perfect. When he felt Rosemarie fall asleep in his arms, he laid her down in the cradle besides the bed.

"She's beautiful," He murmured to himself, he lifted his head and met Kayley's eyes. "I'll be back later, get some sleep." He told her and kissed his wife. Then he left the hospital without looking back at her.

Kayley watched her husband's expression turn for tuned-out to a look of pure adoration for the little Rosemarie in his arms. Yes, the child was beautiful, she was after all Kayley's own flesh and blood, and Kayley had always been beautiful in her own eyes. But now as she watched her husband looking at their daughter in that way, she felt jealousy rear its ugly head. It was absurd for her to feel jealousy for the new born and yet she did indeed feel jealous of the child. She didn't want the child any more, the pure beautiful child, she still loved her but now she was starting to regret saving the child's life. _No,_ she shook her head in disgust towards herself, _that's a shameful thing to think, Ley. That's your daughter and your husband loves you, there is nothing to be jealous of._

Kayley only smiled when her husband murmured again "She's beautiful," and Kayley could only agree, he was right after all, Rosemarie was beautiful. She watched him lay the child down, felt him kiss the top of her head and watched him leave before she fell asleep again.

It had been exactly nine years since that day, since Rose's birth and John had loved his daughter with all of his heart. He knew his wife had changed, she wasn't the woman he had fallen in love with. She was violent now and vain, not to mention that she was also morbid and _dark._ She had become jealous of her daughter's beauty and it just pained John to see the way his wife treated his daughter. He was afraid that he had loss her but there wasn't anyone that he could talk to about it, was there?

John looked down on the dead body and started investigating for its cause of death. John had become a mortician as it was the only work he could find and usually he was good at what he did but now he was stumped, there were no obvious sings of the cause of this death, it had not been shot, strangled, or drowned. The body had not died of a loss of blood as there were no cuts upon the body; John did tests on the inners of the body and he found that it had not died of any disease known to man. If it had not been for the fact that there was no pulse, the body could have been passed for being asleep and yet the body was dead and John could not understand how unless... But no that couldn't be, there weren't _murderers _in her kind was there? He knew that there were prejudices against muggles but they wouldn't kill a muggle would they? And yet it was the only solution but John _knew _that if this was indeed done by one of her lot he couldn't put it down in their records and so John knew that there was nothing he could do. He simply marked that the cause of death was unknown and slipped the white sheet back over the dead body.

John walked away from the dead body and went to wash his hands. He was going to go home early and spend the day with his daughter for her ninth birthday.

"See you tomorrow John," Mike Welch called from the far corner of the staff room while John collected his things. Mike was a good friend and so John replied with warmth "Yea see you tomorrow Mike," before he left the morgue for the day.

On Belmont street sat a tiny two story house, in this house lived Kayley, her daughter Rose and her husband John. Across the road lived the Potter's and their son, James. James and Rose were friends though they weren't as close as James wished that they were. James found the girl fascinating and beautiful, and it was the girl who had occupied his thoughts ever since he had met her at the little park at the end of the road. It was now, that James was making his way across the street to wish the beautiful girl happy birthday that he found her sitting on the wooden steps leading to her house that he found her crying. He felt a stab of pain for the girl and felt the small package inside of his coat's pocket burn against his skin.

"Hey Rose," James said as he sat down beside her. She sniffled softly and laid her head down on his shoulder.

Rose felt James wrap an arm around her waist and sighed, why she was crying on her birthday she didn't know, she only woke up with a terrible feeling inside of her and knew that something bad was going to happen. "Hi James," Rose replied after a while.

"Come on stop crying," James chuckled and pulled out the present he had made for her. "Here, Happy birthday, I made it myself." He said with a lazy smile directed towards the girl sitting beside him. She straightened up and took the gift from him. Rose smiled softly as she unwrapped the small package. Inside it she found a tiny wooden heart on a silver chain long enough to hang around her neck. She smiled softly before she kissed the boys cheek.

"Thank you James," She murmured as she turned around so that the boy could put the necklace on her. James blushed slightly as her lips touched his cheek but she seemed not to notice. When the necklace was on Rose, James lean back against the steps and looked up into the greying sky.

"Do you want to go to Maraudy's Fort?" James asked, asking the girl to go to their tree house in the little park down the road. Rose looked over at James and smiled sadly.

"I can't James, I'm waiting for my dad to get home," She replied honestly. She felt a stab of regret as James got his feet and with a murmured "Alright, well I'll see you later Rose," he ran off back across the street and into his own home. Rose, fingering the heart he gave her goes back inside hoping her father would come back home soon.

John walks into his home in the late afternoon and is welcome by silence which is unusual as there is always a noisy fight happening when he arrives home from work. He places his keys on the hook near the door and see's Rose in the lounge room reading the large book of muggle fairy-tales – that he had given her this morning – on the cushion on the floor. He smiled softly to himself and made his way upstairs to find where his wife is. John opened their bedroom door but Kayley wasn't in there, he closed the door and made his way to the bathroom, John opened this door too but found that Kayley wasn't in there either, John then made his way to the study and it was in there that he heard voices coming from underneath the door. John slowly opened the door and was shocked to see what he found behind the door.

Kayley had spent the day doing the usual, ignoring Rose and on this particular day she was ignoring the fact that it was her daughter's birthday. Lewis had arrived not too long ago by apparition and pulled Kayley into the study with him. It wasn't until they were both in there and the door closed behind her that he pushed her up against the wall and kissed her with all the love he felt in his heart for her. Lewis's heart had filled with elation and lust when Kayley responded to his kiss with a kiss of her own. Love and Lust took over when he had his way with her against the door. It wasn't until a few hours later when he had shown her everything he had been feeling for her for the past twenty years that he decided that he needed to talk to her about the last meeting of the Death Eaters.

"Look Kayley, the Dark Lord insists that if you want to be in his inner circle that you have to kill a muggle, your husband in particular but if you can't do it then I'll..." Lewis had been ranting but he was surprised when Kayley lifted up her hand for him to stop speaking.

"No Lewis, I will be the one to kill John. I must do it, the Dark Lord will know if I have done it or not. Besides I want to do it, I want to kill him. I don't, I don't love him anymore." Kayley said a strong determination in her voice, she faltered for a moment and then she met Lewis's eyes and whispered "I _love_ you Lewis." They kissed again with as much passion as before but before things could go further again they heard the door opening. It opened before they could escape each other's arms and the shock on John's face was enough to know that there was going to be trouble. Lewis appariated and Kayley pulled John downstairs saying nothing until they were in the now empty lounge room.

"How dare you, after everything I've done for you Ley, you go around and cheat on me behind my back with that filthy Prothorow." John screamed his anger and hurt mixing in his words.

"How dare you call him filth, you filthy muggle." Kayley spat the word with as much venom in her voice that she could muster. "It's about time you learnt your place in my world muggle or you will die."

"Kayley you can't mean that! I'm your husband! You would tear this family apart because of your own insecurities..." He started yelling again but before he could finish his sentence Kayley had pulled out her wand and had shouted _"Crucio". _John fell to his knees in front of his wife and let out a blood curdling scream.

John's screams echoed around the house and it only egged Kayley on, the poison of her blood pumping through her veins. She knew what she was going to do but she didn't feel disgust at herself, she only felt elation and joy, because she would finally not only be a true Death Eater but she would finally be with Lewis and nothing would be standing in their way.

Rose heard the blood curdling scream ad ran out from her bedroom and down the corridor leading to the opening at the top of the stairs. She ran down the stairs, she kept on running until she was at the archway of the lounge room. She looked in there and saw her mother towering over her twisting and squirming father, her mother's wand pointing at her father's heart. She watched in hope when Kayley lifted her wand the curse ending but again Rose watched in horror as the wand was pointed once more at her father's heart and Kayley yelled _"Adava Kedavra". _There was a flash of green light and then there was only darkness. Rose met the eyes of her mother and she saw the hate that her mother felt towards Rose.

There was nothing else that Rose could do but run and so she ran, past the potter's house down the road in the opposite direction of the park, running towards Grandma Adams. Her only protection left against the evil that was her mother.

Kayley did what The Dark Lord told her. She had to kill a muggle to be in his inner circle and so she had killed her husband for her Lord. She dropped her wand arm and turned her head so that she could look at the little girl across the room from her. She had hoped that Rose wouldn't have had to see that. It wasn't something that a little girl should see. Kayley felt her left arm burn but the pain didn't mean anything, she had stopped feeling pain a long time ago. She watched as Rose ran from the house, she couldn't be bothered to stop her. She loved her daughter; she loved her in the way that only the heartless could love someone.

She couldn't remember when she had become heartless, or the event's that had led up to it but she did remember her daughter's birth. She remembered unbelievable joy as she looked at her daughter for the first time, she remembered the feeling of ice-cold terror rushing down her body as she realized that Rose - as she had named her after the first flower "Petal" that had come to mind - was dying in her arms, she remembered as Lewis Prothorow had given her the potion, the one he promised would save her life but he had also warn her that Rose would have to die first before it could take place. She remembered as Cathy Chandler had prophesized Rose would die and had foreseen that Rose would be of use to the Dark Lord. She remembered when she had first met Tom Riddle, remembered how he had been idolized at school by their classmates - especially the Slytherin's - favoured by all but one, Albus Dumbledore, an old friend of her mother's, an aurora still in her prime despite her age. Her mother was invaluable to the wizarding world and yet she knew how her mother would despise her for her choice of going to the dark side.

_No matter,_ she though as she sent the dark mark to reside over the top of the house, letting the world know that there had been murder here. The muggles wouldn't see a thing - not that they ever did - but her mother at the end of the road would, and so would the perfect Potter's across the road.

The Potter's watched Rose run from her house down the street, the watched as Mrs Ashmore set the dark mark in the sky; they watched her appariate into the night with a loud crack and they huddle together in front of the fire grateful that their family wasn't as messed up as the one across the road.

Rose ran down the little path leading up to her grandmother's house. She knocked loudly on the door and waited, tears falling down her face as her grandmother opened the door. Her grandmother was a little younger than James mother – at the age of 48 - but at that moment the thought didn't occur to Rose, she only flew into her grandmother's arms and collapse into them as the horror of the night over took her body and mind and sent her into unconsciousness's overly large, velvety black wings.

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><p>AN: So what did you think of the first chapter? How do you think Rose will turn out after the "messed up" mother and death of her father? And what of James? and old Maurady's Fort? Tell me what you think no matter if it's good, bad, criticism or flame and remember to and this story to you alert's list if you want updates. I would like to get at least **5 Review** before I post the next chapter :) Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2: Home at Last

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's chapter 2 I'm sorry that chapter one was a bit slow but I needed to set the foundations for the story. I hope you enjoy this chapter! I sure did enjoy writing it for you.**

**Disclaimer: Obviously I'm not J.K. Rowling, I'm just playing in her sand box. I don't own anything you recognize ;)**

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><p>Chapter 2 – Home at Last<p>

_23 June, 1974_

It's been almost six years since that day. Almost six years since I watched my father die at my mother's feet. The nightmares still swarm my mind. I could have gone to the Potter's that night They lived right across the street after all, but in my panic, in a nine year old's panic, I ran to the first person that came to my mind, to my grandmother. She had taken me in without a question, which I knew that she would in my subconsciousness but we had left almost a few days after. She had collected my things for me and then we had gone to America. That's where we have been living for the past six years, her working on a couple of jobs here and there, and me… well, I've been studying at Wizarding Intelligence for the Completely Capable Adolescent or for short W.I.C.C.A. I've never really had any friends - well, besides James, that is but I've been an outcast here at W.I.C.C.A, what with my strange "telepathic" powers, with my ability to know more than I should (that is without being a gossip) and the fact that I am several shades paler than all the other students, almost as if the sun has never touched my skin.

I looked up into the mirror. I had the same pale skin since I was a little girl, almost as white as the bone beneath the skin. My thick, wavy chestnut brown hair fell past my shoulders and reached my mid back. The fringe that laid across the right side of my face fell in my forest green eyes; Forest green eyes that would flash amber whenever I got too mad or I slipped into one of my "mood's". The girl in the mirror –_Me, _my mind whispered trying to remind me of who she was exactly – was beautiful, if you had a thing for the pale, mysterious kind of girl. But in my own mind, I wasn't beautiful. I just looked tired and alone, and _haunted_. No, I wasn't beautiful, not to myself at least but that didn't stop all the American boys to fall hard when they got a glimpse of me. Just because I wasn't beautiful to myself, it didn't mean that I was hated by every girl because of their vanity, their jealousy. _Just like my mother,_ my mind whispered again but I pushed the thoughts away as I turned away from the mirror on my wardrobe door.

"Rose are you almost ready?" Grandma Adams called from downstairs and I let out a sigh. Yea I was ready. I had my bags packed, my room completely cleaned out and I had no friends to say goodbye to but was I _ready_ to return to my _true _home? I wasn't quite sure.

"Yea, I'm ready" I replied with a bit more volume then I would have if she had been standing next to me. I pocketed my wand from the bedside table and grabbed my bags, carrying them down the stairs with me. I smiled softly as I watched my Grandma humming as she cooked us what she said was a "proper" breakfast. My Grandmother wasn't that old – barely fifty-one – and she looked incredibly young for her age but I couldn't bring myself to call her by her name. It just felt disrespectful towards the woman that raised me for the past six years, as if I was her own daughter.

"Morning Rose, we're going to go to the Ministry of Magic after we have breakfast. We will probably being floo-ing to the London Ministry of Magic." Lucinda said before continuing to hum softly to herself. Rose sat down at the table and waited for Grandma Adams to finish cooking.

After a breakfast consisting of eggs, sausages, bacon, toast and apple juice, Grandma Adams and Rose picked up their bags and apparated to the American Ministry of Magic, leaving their little home in Mississippi behind. The Ministry was bustling with business this morning and Rose looked around in humour and fascination as she had only been inside the Ministry once before and she was too burdened with grief to remember much about it. Both Grandmother and Grandchild made their way over to the front desk, where they were greeted warmly by the lady sitting behind it.

Rose wasn't paying attention to the conversation as Lucinda talked to the woman behind the desk. No, Rose's mind was on other things whilst she tried to push away all the thoughts that buzzed around inside of her head. Rose could hear anyone's thoughts if she concentrated hard enough. Touch usually helped her to be able to zone in on a particular person's thoughts, but touch also helped to reveal a lot more than a person's current thoughts. As that was the case Rose wore gloves where ever she went just in case; there was no need to subject one's self to the oddity that one was. As it was Rose could still hear the thoughts swarming around, they were more like a buzz than anything coherent but still it annoyed and distracted Rose from things that she should have been focusing on. It wasn't until Grandma Adams' hand fell down on Rose's shoulder that her mind returned to her and the buzz of incoherent thoughts evaporated from her mind.

"Come on Rose." Grandma Adam's gently pushed Rose in the right direction and Rose felt her hand fall from her shoulder when she was walking in the right direction. The thoughts didn't evade Rose again as now she had something to focus on but once Rose had nothing to focus on she knew that they would come swarming back to her. They made their way to the fireplaces in silence and they called out "London, Ministry of Magic" before they dropped the powder into the fire and disappearing from sight.

They had just left the London Ministry of Magic and were making their way to Belmont Street in Camden in the Muggle car that the Ministry had offered to them. It wasn't an extraordinary car. It only after all had to fit the two of them plus everything that they had brought from America with them. Still, it was only a fairly new Cadillac, just big enough to fit them and everything they had brought with them. Rose remembered the house with perfect clarity, almost as if she had never lived in America at all. She looked up into the sky down the road almost as if expecting the dark mark to still be there but it wasn't and that only showed the fact that she hadn't been on this quaint little road for all of her life.

When they had brought everything in, Grandma Adams turned to Rose and pulled her into a tight hug.

"I'm going to be heading out for a little while. Will you be alright here by yourself?" Grandma Adams asked Rose. Rose simply nodded her head and when she had found her voice said, "Yea, I'll be fine." With that, Lucinda kissed Rose on the top of her head and apparated to Hogsmeade. Rose took her things and started the menial task of unpacking her belongings. Little did she know what her Grandmother was up to.

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><p>Lucinda walked up the steep drive of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She had arranged to meet with an old friend whom was now the headmaster of the school, Albus Dumbledore. They had gone to school together, they had known each other's secrets and they had trusted each other with everything. But after his mother's death he became distant and with his sister's death they had lost all contact with each other completely, though that was not due to the lack of Lucinda's efforts.<p>

It wasn't long until Lucinda found herself outside of the Headmaster's office. "I need to see Albus Dumbledore, please," She said to the gargoyle. It swung open and Lucinda stepped onto the steps before it could start swivelling towards the door that waited at the top.

"Come in Lucy," Albus called from inside the room when the staircase stopped moving. Lucinda smiled at the nickname and walked into the room.

"How are you, Albus?" Lucinda asked genuinely curious as to how her old friend was.

"Better now that you're here," He teased the infuriating twinkle deep in his eyes. Lucinda only laughed and smiled in return. "And how are you, Lucy?" Albus asked, his concern for his friend marked deep into the lines of his face.

"Troubled. You heard of what my daughter did didn't you?" She asked her worries settling in the depths of her eyes.

"Yes I heard. I couldn't believe it that little Kayley could do such a tragic thing. How is her daughter?" Albus asked

"She's dealing, but I'm worried about her. It was Rosemarie that I came to talk to you about. She was meant to do her sixth year at W.I.C.C.A but I pulled her out. I thought that she would benefit greatly if she attended her sixth and seventh year here. Do you think it would be alright for her to do that?" Lucinda asked, slightly afraid that Albus would turn her granddaughter away. She relaxed when Albus smiled and the twinkle shone even brighter in his eyes.

"That would be wonderful. Yes, I quiet agree. You will, of course, have to send me her O.W.L results so that I know how she is coping with the work load. You will, also, have to send me the classes she wishes to enrol for," Albus replied, his eyes twinkling and his lips smiling a genuine smile for the first time in a while.

"Albus there's something else that I wanted to discuss with you about." Lucinda said, her tones hushed as she continued. "There's something about Rose that is quite unique. She has great telepathic powers, Albus. She can hear people's thoughts when she's distracted. She can zone in on a single person's mind and communicate with them. With a touch of her hand, she can see every thought that a person has ever had. I don't know what to make of it. She wears gloves to try and keep her powers under control. She may insist on keeping them on, you need to make sure that the teachers allow for this exception. I dread to think of what could happen if anyone were to find out." Lucinda practically begged, but Albus only smiled and gave a gentle nod of his head.

"If she can perform magic at the same level as her peer's with them on than I will try to make sure that she is allowed that exception, but I can't promise anything." Albus replied.

"Oh thank you, Albus," Lucinda replied smiling happily now. The two old friends continued to catch up. They spoke with each other for hours on end.

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><p>Rose had fallen asleep after unpacking her things and making her bed. She woke up in the early twilight and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand sleepily. There was no noise down stairs and she knew that her grandmother hadn't returned. The sun had barely just set and Rose pulled on her favourite black leather jacket and decided to take a walk down to the park and the old 'Maraudy' Fort.<p>

Rose stumbled upon the house before she could even think about what she was doing and she stared at it in horror. It had been burnt down and now there was hardly anything left of it. It appeared to be barely standing. Everything had a burnt, charcoal look to it. It was nothing but another black shape against the darkening sky. Rose could feel tidal waves of emotions crashing down on her, but she didn't cry. She couldn't cry. Her heart had hardened over the years and Rose knew more of tragedy than she knew of happiness. Tears were hard to come upon for Rose, and even now, as she looked upon the house of her nightmares, she didn't cry.

Rose instinctively reached up to the hallow at the base of her neck, as if she would find the wooden heart James had carved for her there, but of course, even as her fingers reached to touch it she knew that her fingers would only touch skin. The heart had been stolen from her and she had never found it again. Rose turned around to look at the Potter's house and wondered if he still lived there. Or had he moved?

But, of course, the school year had just ended and if James did indeed live there he wouldn't have been at his home in any case. He would be on his way home. Rose didn't bother going down to the old Fort. It was too cold and it was getting darker the longer she stood there. She turned away from her old home and from the Potter's house and started making her way back the way that she came.

Rose lay down on her bed, her arm covering her eyes. The memory of that night came flooding back to her mind. Rose fell asleep, the nightmares flooding her mind once more. She couldn't handle it any more She needed to forget. However, she had no way to forget - not that she even wanted to forget her father. She just wanted to forget that night and the horror that I brought with it.

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><p>Kayley awoke in surprise. She could feel Lewis sleeping beside her, his naked body radiating heat. Kayley could feel something else though; the connection between her and Rosemarie had just stirred. Kayley smiled softly as she laid her back down on Lewis's naked chest. Her daughter was back home, back here in London and she was positive of one thing in particular.<p>

Rosemarie was going to receive a very - _unwelcome _surprise visit from her mother.

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><p><strong>AN: Please leave a review guys! I would love to hear what you think about this story so far (wether it be good, bad, flam or Critical Criticism). I hope to hear from you! I would like at _least 5 _reviews before I post the next chapter. For those of you who do review I will give you a 500 snippet from the next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3: The Good, The Bold and The Be

**A/N: Thank you to those of you whom subscribed for alerts to this story. I can't tell you enough how much that means to me. I hope that you enjoy this chapter and I promise things are going to start picking up from this chapter on. I apologize that the first two chapters may have been slow but I can't stress how much that I needed to set the foundations to this story before I could really get started in this. So with that said I would just like to thank my amazing Beta AndiePotter-Snape for pre-reading this chapter for me! And now onto the story.**

**Disclaimer: Obviously I'm not J.K.R though my initails are R.K.. I own nothing that you recognize.**

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><p>Chapter 3 – The Good, the Bold, and the Beautiful<p>

James couldn't be bothered unpacking. His parents had let Sirius come over for the summer and James knew that the long haired teen was grateful to get away from Black Manor. Even with Sirius in the house James could do nothing but sit on the window seat and stare out into space simply thinking about a fiery red head that James had fallen in love with over the years. True, she never really seemed to notice him in his best of times and she seemed to catch every mischievous thing that he did with his three best mates. James let go of the snitch that he was holding – the one he had pinched at the end of the last game – and allowed it to hover in the air in front of him. A light smack to the centre of his chest brought him out of his thoughts and made him look at the face of his best mate, Sirius Black.

"Hey, check out that bird. I've never seen her around her before." Sirius stated looking outside of the window. James turned his head to look out the open window and his eyes searched the street in front of him. It wasn't long until his eyes landed upon the girl on the opposite side of the street, outside of her house. It wasn't until the girl turned around and she looked up at his window that something stirred inside of him.

"Wow, she's hot." Sirius stated bluntly but James wasn't sure if he could agree or not. If it was _her_ it didn't change how he felt about Lily but _she_had been his first crush and it would be weird to see her back here. James shook his head trying to get the girl from his mind as she walked away, no it couldn't have been her. It had been too long and James learnt a long time ago to expect her to never come back.

Sirius was still talking and James pushed away thoughts about the new girl from his mind. Even if it was her, he wouldn't let her occupy his thoughts; _that_job was devoted to Lily and no-one else.

"Do you think she's a witch?" Sirius asked. James turned his attention back to his best mate and gave a lopsided smile.

"You can't tell if somebody's _magical_or not by just looking at them Padfoot." James remarked his lopsided smile growing at his best mate's confused look.

"Quite true, but I don't think it would hurt to introduce myself the next time we see her." Sirius winked and gave out a laugh that was too much like a bark which instantly had James laughing along with him.

"I still can't believe that Snivellus called Lily that filthy name. What do you think we should do about it?" Sirius asked, James could only see red for a moment as the memory flashed across his mind. That filthy git had no right to call Lily a _mudblood._In truth James had attacked the git as soon as Lily had walked away but he was never going to let the dungeon bat live it down.

"I don't know. Something horrid I suppose." James said smiling as a plan came to mind, "How about we…" James whispered to Sirius the plan that had come to mind.

"That may just work! Prongs, you are a genius!" Sirius barked out another laugh and the two boys stayed up for the rest of the night discussing other plans, Lily, Mary McDonald (Sirius latest squeeze) and of all the mischievous things that they were bound to get up to the next year.

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><p>The summer flashed by for Rose, some days she stayed inside reading her American literature, some days she spent it outside sleeping underneath the sun (even though sun-bathing was kind of pointless for Rose) and some days she spent it down in the park where on many occasion she would run into two very handsome boys. She didn't know if they were wizards or not but they were friendly enough – or perhaps <em>too<em>friendly – towards Rose. They didn't ask her and she, in turn, didn't ask them if they were wizards or not. Rose figured that if they were she would see them on the Hogwarts Express that she was to catch on the first of September.

It was the 22nd of August and Rose had still yet to receive her official letter from Hogwarts. Rose did her usual morning routine: wake up at six, put on a tracksuit and take a jog around the block. Nothing unusual ever happened on these morning runs and Rose returned home with nothing new happening again. She took a shower to wash the sweat off, brushed her teeth and went down to make herself some breakfast. Her Grandma would have already gone to the ministry and so Rose was left with nothing to do besides to curl up with 'Dracula', the novel that she was reading at the moment.

Rose was pulled out of her novel when she heard the screech of a owl and she looked up to see a large, brown barn owl sitting in the open window. Rose bookmarked the page that she was on and got up to walk over to relieve the bird of its burden. The owl dropped the letter into her open hand and it flew up into the air. Rose sat down on the window seat and looked at the letter. It was a pale cream envelope and on the front was written in a deep emerald:

_Rose Ashmore  
>The Lounge room<br>13 Belmont St  
>Carmden<br>London  
><em>  
>How the sender knew where exactly she would be when receiving the letter was just a tad bit creepy and unusual but it only sent a shiver of excitement fluttering down her spine. Rose flipped over the envelope and on the other side, sealing the letter closed was a wax symbol of a badger, a rook, a snake and a loin. <em>'The Hogwarts Code of Arms'<em>, Rose's mind whispered and she felt excitement spark to life inside of her. She ripped open the envelope and pulled out the letter.

_Dear Miss Ashmore,_

I am glad to say that you have been accepted to study at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is not very often that we have transfer students and I am ecstatic to say that you are the first in the past seven years. You will be starting your sixth year on the 1st of September. You will need to catch the Hogwarts Express before the eleventh hour at Kings Cross Station, Platform 9 3/4 Please find a list of all necessary books and equipment enclosed;

Professor Dumbledore,  
>Headmaster of Hogwarts<p>

Minerva McGonagall,  
>Deputy Headmistress<p>

When Rose put down the letter from the headmaster she found that there was also a second page of parchment.

_Each student will need the following;_

UNIFORM

3 sets of plain work robes (black)  
>1 plain pointed hat (black) for day wear<br>1 pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
>1 winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)<br>Please not that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags

COURSE BOOKS

1 The Standard book of spells (Grade 6) by Miranda Goshawk  
>1 A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot<br>1 Transfigeration and you (Grade 6) by Emeric Switch  
>1 One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore<br>1 Defending yourself Against the Dark Arts; Advanced by Quentin Trimble  
>1 Advace Potions by Arsenius Jigger<br>1 Ancient Runes; A How to guide by Adalbert Waffling

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand  
>1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)<br>1 set of glass phials  
>1 set of brass scales<br>Students may also bring an owl OR cat OR a toad.

Rose put both of the letters down and she realized that her grandmother had not gone to the ministry at all for here she was standing – about a meter – in front of her in her pyjama's and dressing gown.

"What have you got there, Rose?" Her grandmother asked kindly sitting down and taking a swig of her coffee.

"It's my Hogwarts Acceptance Letter," Rose replied a smile gracing her features. Lucinda smiled softly as well.

"Good. Well, since I have nothing to do today how about we go to Diagon Alley and get the things you need. Can you pass me the list please." She asked and Rose complied. Rose watched as her grandmother scanned over the list and then she handed it back to rose.

"Go and get ready Rose while I get myself dressed. We'll leave in about half an hour and we'll have lunch there." Lucinda told Rose before getting up herself and leaving the room to get ready. Rose walked out of the room leaving the book behind on the window seat and went upstairs to get dressed. She pulled on a short white summer dress, and picked up her black leather jacket and slipped that on as well. Rose left her wavy hair as it was and put on just a tad bit of makeup - nothing eccentric like mascara or eyeliner – just a little bit of foundation and a clear strawberry flavoured lip-gloss - and Rose was ready.

It wasn't long until Lucinda was ready as well. Rose had been waiting in the lounge room and when Lucinda came in they floo-ed to Diagon Alley.

Diagon Alley was bustling with business and for a moment after the quietness of the house, the overly crowded streets of Diagon Alley made Rose's head spin from all of the thoughts swirling in the air around her. Rose quickly put up her mental wall and blocked out all of the incoming thoughts. She had had practice doing so for all the years that Rose had been at W.I.C.C.A and now it was an easy task for her to do.

They went to Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions first, to get Rose's new set of school clothes. In there was four boys, the shortest and less handsome of them was with – whom must of have been – Madam Malkin.

"I'll be with you in a moment," Madam Malkin called, two sets of pins sticking out of the side of her mouth. Lucinda turned to face Rose and gripped onto both of her shoulders.

"Will you be alright here? I need to go and pick up some things." Grandma Adams asked, Rose replied with a soft yes and then she was alone with the three other boys. It wasn't until they had heard Rose's voice that they even noticed that she was there.

Sirius's hand hit James chest just like the first night he had seen the girl. "Guess she's a witch then," Sirius murmured to James a smile stretching out on his lips before he got up and walked over to the girl.

"Hi, I'm Sirius Black." The boy said to Rose when he had reached her. He took her gloved hand in his and kissed it gently. The glove prevented Rose from the boys every thought but she still could hear his "inner" voice as if it were being muffled from the glove. Rose could pick up the gist of his thoughts though and it made her flush.

"Hello, I'm Rose Ashmore." Rose replied, her smile was strained as if the moment was awkward. For her it was, because his thoughts were starting to become much clearer to Rose, even though the glove still remained on her hand. James wasn't really paying attention to the conversation but he caught the girl's reply and almost did a double take. He looked at her trying to connect this beautiful girl to the little girl of his past but he couldn't make the connection.

"What did you say your name was?" He asked from his seat at the window. He didn't mean to say it out loud, but now that it had been said he couldn't take it back. James notice her blush and the red marking her cheeks only made her more beautiful. Her forest green eyes met his and she said her name again. He knew just by those eyes that it was her. He gave her a lopsided smile and said.

"Long time no see Rose, I wonder, do you remember me?" He asked as he stood up his arms aching to hold his old best friend.

Rose's smile was genuine this time, "Messy hair, glasses and that lopsided smile. How could I forget the great James Potter," She joked and his smile grew larger. He gave out a little laugh and it made her laugh along with him.

"How have you been?" He asked and Rose just shrugged her shoulders.

"I could be better. Losing both of your parents in one night is straining." She tried to make a joke but he could see the pain in the depths of her eyes.

"Well, let me make the introductions," James said gesturing for Remus to join them. When Remus was standing next to James he continued. "You've already met Sirius, and you know who I am. This is Remus," James said waving a hand at Remus and then continued as he pointed over to Peter "And over there is Peter. And together we make the Marauders." James gave a winning grin and Rose gave a hearty laugh that tinkled like soft bells chiming, both Remus and Sirius seemed to be entranced by the sound of her laughter and James' grin grew larger.

"The Marauders. Did you get the name from old 'Maraudy's' fort?" Rose teased but James smile only got even larger as he winked and said "You bet I did." Their laughter resounded throughout the small shop again and Sirius let out a frustrated grunt. It figured that James would get all the attention.

"Could someone please explain what's going on here?" Sirius asked a bit frustrated but happy at least that they weren't all over each other.

"I used to know Rose when I was a kid. She lived in the burnt down house across the road." James replied to his best mate, who seemed to be getting frustrated.

Remus had not said a word other than a short hello to the girl. He knew what he was, he knew that pretty girls like her couldn't - more like wouldn't - be seen with someone like him, a werewolf. Moony had stirred when Remus had seen Sirius kiss her gloved hand. He wondered why she would wear black leather gloves like that, why she would want to hide her hands - which he assumed were beautiful just like the rest of her. He wondered why she would want to hide any part of herself. _Maybe her hands are scared_, his mind whispered. Remus smiled softly as he heard her laughter. She was beautiful inside and out. Remus wanted her to notice him but he wasn't going to push his luck. He was lucky enough to even be standing near her, though that would probably change when she learnt of what he was.

Rose watched as the fourth boy, Peter, walked up to the group and she knew that they were going to leave.

"It was nice to see you again, James. And it was nice to meet you Sirius, Remus." Rose said, she saw Remus's body give a slight shiver as she said his name and their eyes met for a moment. For some strange reason Rose couldn't hear his thoughts. Perhaps if she touched him she would have heard his thoughts but she only smiled when their eyes met trying to show the truth of her words through her eyes. He smiled softly as they exited the shop with Peter following behind them.

Madam Malkin turned to her then after the boys had left the shop and said "How can I help you dear?" Rose explained to the woman what she needed and she was ushered to the little platform that Peter had just been standing on. It took a while and Lucinda had come back by the time that Madam Malkin was done.

"That will be 12 sickles and 3 knuts for the three work robes, 2 sickles for the hat and 2 sickles and 6 knuts for the winter cloak. In total that is 16 sickles and 9 knuts." Madam Malkin said and Grandma Adams paid the woman. It didn't take very long for Rose to get everything else and she didn't bother with getting a pet. Rose didn't see the boys again and she regretted it slightly but it was rounding onto two o'clock and Grandma Adams and Rose were still to have lunch.

Rose and Lucinda exited out of Flourish and Bolts and back past Madam Malkin's, they walked past the side street that turned off into Knockturn Alley and they continued down Diagon Alley until they found the little café a little bit further past Gringott's. It was a quaint little shop and the two women decided that they were going to sit outside since it was a nice enough day. Rose set down the bags before she took her seat across from her grandmother whom had already picked up the menu placed at the little two seat table. Rose also picked up her menu. A little after Rose had decided on what she wanted to order the waitress came along.

"Welcome to Madam Blackard's Casa de Café. I'm Lilliana and I will be your waitress today. Are you ready to order?" Lilliana the waitress said with her notebook and pen propped in her hands.

"Yes, can I get the shepherd's pie and a butterbeer," Rose said placing her menu down, the waitress recorded her order and then turned to Lucinda whom ordered the same thing. They settled into an easy conversation after the waitress left. Rose noticed a very _muggle_looking family come to the cafe. There was the mother and father; there was also a girl her age that looked very similar to the girl's mother. Rose could hear the girl's easy conversation with her parents and was slightly envious of the girl's good fortune.

Lucinda and Rose ate their lunch in silence; Lucinda had noticed Rose watching the red head girl and felt a stab of pain for her granddaughter. She knew that Rose wished that her life had been normal, that her mum wasn't a death eater and that her father was still alive. Not that Rose ever complained but Lucinda still knew her granddaughters desires anyway, and so she left Rose to think. Lucinda shrunk the items that they had brought and slipped them into her purse. She floo-ed back to their house via the Leaky Cauldron and she left Rose to unpack her things after they had arrived at home. There was a letter sitting on the kitchen window sill addressed to Lucinda. She ripped open the envelope and pulled out the short strip of parchment.

_I will be seeing my daughter soon Mother, and there is nothing that you can do to stop me._

Lucinda knew instantly who the letter was from as the message was perfectly clear. Kayley was coming to see Rose. True, Lucinda didn't know when, where or how but she knew why and she knew that there was nothing that she could do to prevent her from seeing Rose.

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><p>AN: Please remember to leave me a Review (good, bad, flame or C.C it doesn't matter to me) and select "Story Alert" if you want to be updated on this story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please tell me what you thought of it =)


	4. Chapter 4: Finally Happening

**A/N: Thank you again to my amazing Beta AndiePotter-Snape for all your amazing efforts so far! This story wouldn't be as good as it is without your inputs ;) and thankyou to all of you for reading this story so far. I almost wrote four pages just for the Rose/Kayley scene lol and I couldn't stop writing this so I cut it short and it is continued in the next chapter which should be up by either today or tomorrow. Please R&R! Thanks guys! Enjoy!**

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><p>Chapter 4 - Finally Happening<p>

The last of the holidays flew by and Rose could not tell where they had gone to. It was now the 31st of August and she was to catch the Hogwarts express in the morning. Rose moved the serving of beef casserole on her dinner plate with her fork, her unpleasant thoughts churning over in her mind.

Her grandmother had been hovering over her in a protective yet annoying way, as if something horrid was going to happen before the first. Rose had been sorely tempted to rip down her mental wall and force herself into her grandmother's mind just to find out what had her so worried, but Rose restricted herself every time this urge stirred inside of her out of respect for her grandmother, the woman that had taken her in and raised her up as if Rose was her own daughter. Rose let out a frustrated sigh and shifted the food again with her fork. The doorbell rang and Rose watched as the woman sitting across her at the dining table got up to answer the door.

Rose could hear muffled voices coming from the front door and Rose strained to hear the voices. Getting frustrated at not hearing anything she pulled down her mental walls and let her mind roam the house to find out who had arrived at their house at this time of night.

Lucinda walked down the short corridor to the front door. She hoped that it wasn't her daughter but her hopes were sorely crushed when she opened the door to not only find her daughter but a male companion with her, who was obviously Lewis Prothorow when he stepped into the light pouring out of the open door.

"Hello Kayley, Lewis. Please come inside and take a seat in the lounge room. I will get Rosemarie." Lucinda said, hating to have to use Rose's full name. Lewis gave a nod of his head and pulled Kayley towards the lounge room which Lucinda had just pointed out for them.

Rose stood up as she saw her grandmother walk into the dining room, a wary expression etched deep into her smooth skin.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked instinctively feeling the effects of worry etching into her own skin.

"We have some visitors who want to speak with you. Just give them a moment or two and then I'll send them away," She said the worry still evident on her face. Her azure eyes swam with worry clearly and it only upset Rose more.

"Who is it?" Rose asked stepping closer towards her grandmother and running a hand lovingly along her grandmother's arm.

"Your mother and Lewis Prothorow, a friend of your mother's," Lucinda said meeting Rose's eyes. Rose could hear the venom towards her mother coming out of her grandmother's voice.

"Alright I'll hear her out." Rose said a calm determination settling over her. Yes, she loathed her mother, but she was still her mother and there was nothing wrong with listening to what she had to say.

"They're in the lounge room. I'll stay with you to make sure she doesn't do anything." Lucinda said but Rose barely even heard her as she made her way to the lounge room. Placing one foot in front of the other, determination setting her shoulders stiff and there was no emotion on Rose's face as she walked into the room.

"Hello Rosemarie," Kayley said as she got to her feet walking over to pull her daughter in an embrace. Rose lifted her hand, stopping her mother from what she had already assumed she was about to do.

"Don't touch me," Rose's voice was as cold as ice and Kayley stopped in her tracks, curiosity and anger fighting for dominance within her. Finally anger won out as she said "Rosemarie Margaretta Diane Ashmore that is no way to talk to your mother." Kayley reprimanded her daughter's tone as Lewis stood up beside her to take her hand.

Rose didn't miss the man's simple action and she _certainly_ did not miss the tone that her mother's voice had taken. "That is exactly how I talk to a mother that betrayed and killed my father and who wouldn't have hesitated to kill me if she had to." Rose replied sitting on the edge of her favourite arm chair. She liked the look that crossed her mother's face and tried to repress a chuckle.

"So what did you want to speak to me about?" Rose asked crossing her arms over her chest, her eyes never leaving her mother's face as she sat back down.

"I wanted to discuss with you staying with me over the winter or Easter holidays; just for a few days." She quickly added sensing that Rosemarie was about to decline her request. It couldn't hurt to stay with her for a two or three days could it? What was the worse that she could do to Rose while she stayed with her? Rose resisted the urge to chuckle at all the horrid thoughts that filled her mind. There was plenty of horrid things that she could do to her while Rosemarie stayed with her.

"I'll think about it. I will send you an owl to let you know of my decision. Was that all _Mother_?" Rose asked laying the venom thick onto her title. The man, Lewis, gave a slight frown at the tone that she was carrying but she couldn't give a damn to what he thought about her or her tone.

"No, no that was all. Well I will await your owl then daughter. Come Lewis, we have things that need to be done." Rose's mother said rising from her seat ignoring Rose's tone this time. Rose watched as her grandmother led her mother and Lewis out of the lounge room and to the front door. Rose could feel the strain of having to put her mental wall up so quickly after she had taken it down for her _investigation_. It was tiring to constantly have a mental wall up but it was going to be even more tiring when the school year started and Rose was at Hogwarts. Rose didn't need the "inner eye" to know that she was going to have a skull-cracking migraine by the end of the tomorrow.

Rose's eyes fluttered closed for a moment as she felt the extra presences leave the house. It wasn't until she felt a hand on her shoulder that Rose's eyes fluttered back open to find her grandmother looking down, concern and love swarming in her azure eyes.

"I think you should go to bed Rose, you've got a long day tomorrow." Lucinda said as she looked down onto her exhausted granddaughter. She couldn't be more proud of Rose than in that moment. The fact that she hadn't killed her mother on the spot was a great show of her self-restraint.

Rose, with a lot of effort on her part, nodded her head silently and made her way to bed. The event with her mother had emotionally strained Rose and so she prepared herself for bed with her remaining energy. Rose slept for the rest of the night without making a sound or stirring at all – which in itself was not a strange occurrence – but instead of her dreams being of her usual nightmare it was of a blank-faced man begging her not to leave him.

Rose awoke with the early morning sunlight in her face and she knew that she had slept in later than she normally would have; Rose blamed this instantly on her mother's visit last night. It was an unusually sunny day for the first of September and Rose smiled slightly. She was excited to start her school year at Hogwarts, she wondered how different it was going to be from W.I.C.C.A and it simply made her more excited.

Rose grabbed a quick shower in the bathroom adjoined to her bedroom and after a quick ten minute shower she walked back into her room, her body wrapped in a towel while her hair was towelled dry and laid perfect down her back. Rose slipped on the black jeans, white lacy tank top, black leather jacket, black leather gloves and the black flats that she had laid aside the night before. Rose put on the little bit of makeup that she was so used to putting on and a little bit of a sweet vanilla and coconut perfume that she had bought on a vacation to Rome.

Rose made her way downstairs, her trunk in her hand. Breakfast was an uneventful thing and Rose was grateful for that. She wasn't sure if she could even handle her grandmother's thoughts and fortunately, for her, Grandma Adams's thoughts were idle this morning.

However, though the house had been quiet Kings Cross was a different subject. It was bustling with muggles and all the insubstantial thoughts that filled their heads.

_What is my wife going to think…._

_I'm late, I'm late! Oh God I'm late…._

_Does my ass look big in this and why, for Christ's sake, is that girl staring at me for…_

That last thought made Rose put up her mental wall and advert her eyes away from the woman who had been complaining about her ass looking to big in those jeans. Rose hadn't meant to be staring but her eyes had jumped from person to person as their thoughts flooded into her mind. Rose and Grandma Adams strolled through the brick wall between platform 9 and 10 when they were sure that there was no muggles looking and they walked out onto platform 9 and 3/4 where the platform was filled with wizarding families. Rose's look of astonishment didn't pass by unnoticed and Grandma Adams gave a low chuckle to her granddaughter's amazement.

Rose took in the swarm of people on the platform, the blood-red and jet black steam engine and even though Rose's mental wall was in place she could feel all the thoughts pounding against those walls, trying to break in. She could see the Marauders – whom had, thankfully, not seen her yet – she could see James flirting with a red-head that seemed to be getting frustrated with the attention. A bit further off with a bunch of slimy looking kids was a tall, pale dark-haired boy watching the red-head girl with longing and then when Rose looked back over to James and the girl she saw that Sirius had seen her and was making was way over to her. Rose groaned inwardly and prepared herself for the boy's overwhelming thoughts.

"Hello fair Maiden," Sirius said as he bent over Rose's gloved hand and kissed it again like he had in Madam Malkin's much to Rose's frustration as his thoughts were as clear as day. It was Grandma Adams chuckle that made the boy remember that they weren't alone and Rose was grateful for her grandmother's interference.

"And who is this Rose?" Lucinda asked her granddaughter giving a small chuckle at the boy's ministrations. Lucinda didn't miss the thankful look that Rose shot her way.

"This is Sirius. He's a friend of James that I met in Madam Malkin's." Rose replied automatically, answering her grandmother's question. Rose saw James looking around – most likely looking for Sirius – and then his eyes found the back of Sirius's head and then shifted slightly so that their eyes met. Rose saw James give a lopsided smile and then she watched as he and the other two Marauders made their way over.

"Speak of the Devil, here he comes now." Rose said a full-fledge smile spreading out onto her lips.

"Oi Padfoot what did I tell you about leaving the poor girl alone." James called over the low buzz of voices swarming the platform. Sirius spun around like a naughty child caught in the act of doing something wrong.

"I don't see you leaving Evans alone," Sirius retorted and Rose gave a small chuckle so similar to her grandmother's. Rose felt her grandmother's hands on her shoulders again and she turned to face her.

"I've got to get going to the ministry," Grandma Adams started pausing for a moment, "Have fun this year and make sure that you write to me about all of your misadventures." Rose gave her grandmother a genuine lazy smile and wrapped her arms around her grandmother.

"I will and please be careful on your cases," Rose replied when she stepped back out of her grandmother's embrace. Rose watched her grandmother leave before she turned around to find that all four boys were now surrounding her.

"Hello again beautiful," James teased, his lopsided smile stretching out on his lips in a familiar way. Rose gave a hearty laugh that chimed like silver bells tinkling, and replied, "Stopping being a prat James."

"Hey look who's watching," The short chubby boy – _Peter_, my mind reminded me – piped up, his voice sounded more like a mouses squeak than anything else. The other three boy's heads swivelled from side to side trying to find whom Peter was trying to point out and then all four eyes were upon the tale, pale, skinny black-haired boy Rose had seen before.

"_Snivellus_," James and Sirius snarled. Rose was pretty sure that wasn't a real name and then came to the conclusion that that must have been their nickname for him. Still, the nickname did not sit well with Rose nor how James had snarled the name with so much venom that it almost burned in the back of her mouth.

"What the _fuck_ is Lily doing talking to him?" James snarled again, his vision blurring into a red haze.

"Who's Lily?" asked Rose and all three out of four sets of eyes turned to her. Rose watched the boy's and James in particular until Remus started speaking.

"Lily is James' love interest." Remus states bluntly his eyes watching her face. She's more beautiful than his memory did her justice.

"Love interest. So she's not James's girlfriend?" Rose asked she watched as Remus's lips tugged into a lazy smile and he shook his head in a humourless way.

"He wishes," Remus replies. Rose could see his amber eyes burning liquid gold as she laughed softly.

"I'm going to go find a seat," Rose says to Remus as Sirius and James were distracted with the talk of Quidditch and Peter was sucking on a fizzing wizbee. "You're welcome to join me if you like." She gave him a soft smile and Remus's heart gave a slight squeeze and he gave her a soft smile in return.

"I might catch up with you later," Remus replies and Rose gives a small shrug of her shoulders in indifference, trying to hide the fact that his not quite decline had stung her somewhat. Rose made her way over to the train a lot of the same thoughts flooding into her mind as she accidently brushed past people.

_Who is she? Where did she come from? Is she new here? Merlin, she's beautiful. _The last thought was decidedly male and it came from every single male that Rose brushed past and then Rose could feel a pair of eyes watching her as she climbed onto the train. Rose resisted the urge to look around for the pair of eyes that she could feel watching her and made her way to find an empty carriage. It wasn't hard to find one since mostly everyone was still on the platform and Rose chose an empty carriage three from the back. Rose slipped her trunk onto the railing over the left-hand side seat and sat down next to the window. Rose rested her head against the cold, glass window and her eyes fluttered close. Her mind was roaming outside searching for the Marauder's and her mind found another girl's head that was watching the group of the four boys.

It was a little while later that Rose felt a hand on her shoulder and she slowly tried to blink away her sleepiness. When her mind had finally kicked in and her thoughts – and those around her – had become coherent she found that it was Remus's hand on her shoulder.

Remus could feel himself getting hard as he watched the girl in front of him waking up and he prayed to whatever god was out there that she didn't realize how hard she had made him.

"Hey," Remus said when Rose had finally looked like she was awake enough to understand the simple word.

"Hey," Rose replied a little bit sleepily, "What's up?" She asked before she had to stifle a yawn.

"I was just wondering if you minded if we sat with you." Remus said feeling a slight bit awkward with his hard on being squeezed gently by his tight jeans.

"That's why you woke me up?" Rose said giving a sleepy smile. Remus cursed under his breath, _why, oh why did she have to smile at him like that?_ "Of course you guys can sit in here. You didn't need to ask Remus, but I'm glad that you woke me anyways." Rose said sitting up slightly and blushing furiously as she wiped away the dribble at the side of her mouth with her index finger.

"Come in, guys," Rose called out to the three other boys that she knew were waiting outside in the corridor of the train. James, Sirius and Peter filed into the room and sat down in the other bench across from her.

"Sit down Remus," Rose said softly to the boy still standing next to her.

"I can't," Remus said a look of regret passing over his features, "I've got to go to a prefect's meeting but I'll come back in a little while," He said before he left.

The boys chatted about Quidditch, girls and pranks while Rose watched the land rolling pass them outside of the window. Rose could feel herself falling asleep again, and she didn't bother trying to stop the black wings wrapping her up in its velvety soft embrace.

It was dark when Rose awoke, and the boy's where talking in hushed whispers. Rose could feel a flutter of a pulse against her forehead and Rose blushed when she realized that her head was resting on Remus's shoulder. Rose had not had any dreams or nightmares and she was grateful that that was the case. What would the boys do if they heard her screaming from her nightmares? Rose shuddered to think what would have happened, to think of how much attention she would have warranted if she had had her usual nightmare.

"Hey sleepy head," Remus murmured, Rose gave a small groan of understanding but she didn't move her head. She could feel Remus's arm gently – and yet barely - wrapped around her, almost as if he was afraid to wrap her up in his arms.

"We're almost there, why don't you go and get changed." Remus suggested, at this Rose awoke completely and agreed silently by getting up and taking her small carry-on bag with her to the change rooms. It was on Rose's way back to her shared compartment with the boys that she found the solitary figure sitting alone in the compartment right before the change rooms. Rose wondered if she should introduce herself but then Sirius stuck his head out of the compartment two more down and called her over.

Rose hesitated for a second longer, her eyes wanting to see the boy in the compartment again but she continued forward hoping that Sirius didn't see her hesitation. Rose continued down the corridor to her shared compartment with the boys and sat back down in her seat. The rest of the ride to Hogsmead station didn't take very long at all; at least fifteen minutes top. Rose was still a little groggy when she got out of the carriage with the four boys and Remus's arm around her waist helped her to walk over to the carriages without falling over. Rose wasn't surprised at seeing thestrals pulling the carriages, they were supposed to be only seen by people that had seen death and so Rose was able to see them but she doubted that a lot of the students now filling into the carriages would be able to see them. She supposed that it seemed more magical if the carriages were "driven" by themselves and Rose amused the boys ignorance by playing the ignorance card herself.

Remus explained that the first years usually went by boat to the castle to experience their first glance of the castle. Rose listened as he told her how he felt about seeing the castle the first time and about the giant – but friendly – man that had led them on the boats. Rose smiled softly at Remus's tale and although Rose wished that she could have experienced what Remus was talking about, she was glad to be right where she was with the Marauders.

When they arrived at the castle and had gotten out of the thestral drawn carriages they walked into the great hall. An old witch walked up to Rose and the Marauders and she saw the boys start growing agitated as the witch approached them.

"Good evening Professor McGonagall." The boys said in unison and Rose give a slight chuckle as the Professor greeted the boys.

"And you, I assume, are Miss Ashmore." Professor McGonagall said after she had greeted the boys.

"Yes, I am." Rose replied curious as to why a teacher would seek her out the first moment that she walked into the school for the first time ever.

"You need to wait out here until I come to get you, as you will need to be sorted into your house before you can sit down at a house table." Professor McGonagall explained.

"We'll see you later Rose and don't worry we'll still talk to you no matter what house you get sorted into," James said giving Rose a lopsided smile that made her smile too.

"Even if she's sorted into _Slytherin?"_ Peter asks shock spreading out onto his face. Professor McGonagall doesn't say anything as she walks away but Rose can see her shaking her head as she leaves.

"Even if she's sorted into Slytherin," Sirius says with a wink and the three boys walk away. Rose can feel Remus's arm still around her waist.

"Go on Remus, I'll be fine," Rose says giving the fourth boy a small smile and he automatically smiles in response. Rose can't help but think that Remus is cute when he smiles, his sandy blonde hair in his amber eyes and the gentle smile tugging at the corners of unusually blood red lips. He walks away without saying anything but; honestly, there is nothing to be said.

It's clear to Rose that even here there are prejudices between the houses but that isn't what has Rose worried. What has Rose worried is the bombardment of thoughts that is bound to happen when Rose is introduced in front of the _entire_ school. Rose let out a sigh, if she didn't get a headache tonight she was sure as hell that she was going to have a migraine by the end of tomorrow.

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><p><strong>AN: Review's = love 3. As from the next chapter I will be sending out short previews for everyone who leaves a review and if you guess where the lyric's of the next chapter's title comes from then you can get a bit extra on the preview. Pictures of all the characters I intend to put to play in this story is on my wall! thanks for reading guys and please pretty please with suger on top leave a review I would love to hear what you think!**


	5. Chapter 5: Saving Him

**A/N: The Song Title's will be starting with the next update. Again thank you always goes to my Amazing Beta that takes this from being good to be great! I don't know what I'd do with out here and of course without my amazing readers ;) Enjoy! Warning there's a little Sev/Rose fluff in the next chapter though it's hardly anything worth a mention and we get a preview of Rose's future in a dream! Exciting stuff lol and I'll stop blabbling now so you can read lol!**

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><p>Chapter 5 – Saving Him<p>

The Sorting ceremony did not take long and when all the first years had been sorted into their houses via the always correct sorting hat, Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, stood up to address the sea of faces looking in his direction. Their attention was focused on his every word.

"Welcome new students and old. I hope that we have another _magical_ school year," Albus chuckled to himself over his choice of words before continuing. "Now, I know that you all must be famished, but before we start the feast we still have one more student to be sorted. Miss Ashmore is a transfer student from our American friends at Wizarding Intelligence for the Completely Capable Adolescent. Now, I would like to tell you all about W.I.C.C.A as Professor McGonagall goes to get Miss Ashmore. W.I.C.C.A is not only a school for Wizards and Witches alike but for Vampires, Werewolf's and other half-human creatures able to perform magic. Miss Ashmore will be starting her sixth year here and I hope that you all treat her with the utmost respect." At this Rose and Professor McGonagall entered into the room. Rose could feel every set of eyes in the room watching her and it was slightly unnerving. She had heard Professor Dumbledore introducing her and giving a slight bit of her history at W.I.C.C.A and even with Rose's mental wall in place; she could hear the thoughts though not as clearly as she would have had if her mental wall was not up. The thoughts sounded as if they were muffled as they pounded against her mental wall.

Professor McGonagall gestured for Rose to sit on the stool and Rose obeyed the silent order. She could still feel every set of eyes on her as Professor McGonagall placed the sorting hat on her head.

_Ah your mind is quiet, unlike any that I've had the pleasure of observing. _The husky voice of the sorting hat resounded inside her head, and it seemed to have gotten past her mental wall without any difficulty. _Do not fear I haven't taken down the wall. Ah I can see your cunning and lies, you'd be great in Slytherin but there is more to you than that isn't there? Ah yes, I can see your Intelligence and a unique wisdom for someone your age and with those you'd be great in Ravenclaw but still there's more ah yes, your quiet brave and even at the age of five you were brave. Loyalty isn't something that I can find in your mind but none have been loyal to you, have they? Where, oh where do I put you girl? Perhaps, with your new friends? You would be great in any house. So I suppose it better be…._

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled and Professor McGonagall lifted the hat off of Rose's head. Rose smiled brightly and made her way over to the Gryffindor table where the four boys' were waving her over.

"And now let's eat," Professor Dumbledore said as soon as Rose had sat down and the tables were filled with delicious food; that made even Rose's mouth water.

It wasn't until Peter had gotten onto his third serving that Remus – whom was sitting next to Rose – spoke up. "What was it like at your old school, with the vampires and werewolves?" He asked. The three other boys across the table stiffened up for a moment but relaxed just as quickly. It was a movement that didn't miss Rose's eyes, but she chose to ignore it as she answered Remus's question.

"It's different to what it is here. We had to know who was a vampire so that we could be careful of letting them get too close to our veins and then there were werewolves, who wanted their identities out in the open. They were usually locked up in the detention block in individual cells on the full moon so that they didn't hurt anyone, but all the guys were prats. It wasn't worth anything to get too close to them, unless you wanted a broken heart or to be dead." Rose could see the sick look on Remus's face and felt a stab of remorse; Rose felt as if she had said too much. "But some of them were friendly enough. I just got a lot of, well, _attention_ from the guys and the girls were jealous of that attention." James gave a slight chuckle at the last part.

"Well, I doubt that's going to change too much. It seems that every male is watching you in here Rose. You're lucky that you've got us." James teased, the lopsided smile still firmly in place. Rose could feel the truth of his words as she felt hundreds of eyes staring at her blatantly; it would seem as if they had never seen a girl before.

Severus had watched the new girl from the moment she had come into the hall and he remembered her as the girl that had stopped outside of the compartment he had been in on the train. She was beautiful, with her flawless pale skin, her dark mahogany hair flowing in perfect waves down her back and her blood red lips stretched into a soft smile. He had hoped that she would be sorted into Slytherin. He may have had a chance to get to know her if she had. He had been sorely disappointed when the sorting hat had bellowed out that blasted house. Even as the house name had been called out he still hoped that she wouldn't be sucked into the Marauder's little group but he was, again, sorely disappointed when he saw them waving her over, her smile growing as she saw the boys. He watched her easy banter with the boys that he loathed most of all and knew that he would have no chance at all to get to know her. Hell, if they had turned _Lily_ against him then he had no chance with a new girl.

Malfoy let out a low whistle as he caught sight of the new girl and Severus gave a small sigh. "She's hot," he heard Malfoy say.

"Yea well there's no point Lucius. She's with the Marauders." Severus sneered, his hopes quickly deflating as he continued to watch the beautiful new girl's easy banter with the boys he loathed.

"Still there's no harm in showing her a little of the Malfoy charm," Lucius replied flashing Severus a brilliant smile.

"And what of Narcissa," Severus asked as he drained half of his goblet of pumpkin juice.

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her, right?" Lucius said waggling his eyebrows at Severus who let out another small sigh.

Rose looked up and met the black eyes of the boy she had seen in that compartment on the train watching her. She smiled softly as her cheeks heated up and she knew that her blush would be obvious to the boys sitting around her. Remus hadn't missed her blush and he looked around trying to find what had made her blush before his eyes landed on Severus Snape who was now talking with Lucius Malfoy. Remus could feel Moony stirring inside of him and he had the sudden urge to protect Rose from their wandering eyes. Remus quickly squashed this urge and engaged in a conversation with his best mates as Rose took to eating the food in front of her. He was, after all, no better than them if he couldn't stop watching her every move.

Rose finished her serving of roast beef and vegetables and took a few sips from her goblet of pumpkin juice. Professor Dumbledore stood up again once everyone had finished their dinner and deserts and addressed the assembly of students now watching and waiting patiently for him to speak.

"We start another school year, and as Professor Allen left us last year we have brought a new teacher to fill her place. May I present Professor Cox who will be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. The rules are the same as always, no students are permitted to go into the Forbidden Forest and Mr Filch has a list of contraband items as I am aware there are 151 items on the list in his office. Curfew is nine for first to fourth years and ten for fifth to seventh years. Please make sure that you are all in your houses before curfew is in place. Prefects, please take first years up to their dorms first and once the first years have left everyone else should go to bed unless if you want detention on your first night back." Professor Dumbledore's tease was evident to Rose but everyone else seemed to not notice it.

"I'll see you guys later," Remus said and it was only then that Rose noticed the Prefect badge that gleamed in the light over his heart. The three boys and Rose said goodbye to Remus and she watched his confident stroll as he made his way over to the red-head girl that Rose had seen early that morning with James.

The first years were led out of the great hall by the prefects and the rest of the students followed soon after. They were a little bit away from the great hall door – and out of sight of the teachers – when Sirius snickered as he pushed to the ground the boy that Rose had caught watching her in the great hall.

"Watch were you're going _Snivellus_, you could have knocked over the fair maiden." Sirius says pointing his wand at the boy now sprawled on the ground. Peter is egging Sirius on behind him and James is standing next to Sirius his wand pointed at the boy on the ground. Rose see's that James's lips are pulled into a smirk so similar to his lopsided smile that the smirk almost looks like it is mocking James's smile.

"Levicorpus," James chants and Rose could feel horror spreading over her as she watched the boy's body float up into the air, victim under James's wand. Yes, there had been prejudices between the houses, there were even prejudices towards the half-humans at W.I.C.C.A but there hadn't been _bullying_. It simply hadn't been condoned.

"NO!" Rose could hear the word rip from her throat and then she could feel herself tugging at James's wand arm. "NO James. Put him down. Please put him down." Rose begged the boy she thought she knew, begging him to stop this injustice towards a boy that she didn't even know.

Severus hadn't been watching where he was going. He had been trying to get down to the Slytherin dorms and away from the Marauders as fast as he possibly could, but he _still_ ended up accidently running into Sirius Black. Who was almost as bad as James Potter, almost but not quite. Still, Black was horrid and Severus regretted it almost immediately when he accidently knocked into the Gryffindor. Severus looked up with horror and then loathing as he realized who he had knocked into. He heard the new girl cry out as he twisted and writhed up in the air and he saw her horror at what was happening to him. He was surprised that she was _upset_ at what was happening to him. She was, after all, with the Marauders. Shouldn't she be _enjoying_ what was happening to him then? But her horror was evident and Severus couldn't deny that she was upset with what was happening. He wanted to say something, anything to get the horror-shocked look away from the girls beautiful features but no words came.

"NO, please James stop; Just put him down." Severus heard the girl beg as she tugged on Potter's arm. Potter's face was filled with surprise as if he had forgotten that the girl was there.

"Why should I stop Rose?" Potter asked his voice filled with surprise and curiosity. It figured that her name would be based off of a flower. First _Lily_ and now _Rose_.

"Because it's _wrong_ James!" Rose said her attention on James alone. How many times as kids had she told him that it was wrong to bully the muggle kids? How many times had she reprimanded him, not talked to him because he wouldn't listen to her? His eyes drifted away from the boy and met hers, she could tell that he was remembering by that little crease in between his brow and Rose waited to see if he would listen this time. It was to Rose's surprise that James nodded his head and said "Libracorpus," James didn't let the boy down gently though and Rose gave James a hard glare before she walked over to the boy.

Severus was surprised that Potter listened to the girl. Who _was_ she? And why could she make Potter do the one thing that Lily could not make him do?

Rose made her way over to the boy on the ground and knelt down next to him.

"Come on Rose," James called trying to pull her away from Severus.

"Go on without me, I'll catch up." Rose said her eyes never leaving the boy's face. It wasn't until she heard the three boys' footsteps getting further and further away from her that she asked "Are you okay?" The boy's eyes turned away from the retreating Marauders and met Rose's own forest green ones.

"Yea I'm okay," The boy said as he got up. "Thanks," was the only word that slipped from his lips when he had gotten to his feet.

"Don't mention it, James should have known better. I don't know how many times I told him when we were kids that bullying other people is wrong." Rose said on a sigh. Severus eyebrows were shooting up towards his hair line. So they knew each other as kids, she must have originally been from England rather than America, Severus's mind concluded as he tried to joined the dots.

"I'm Rose, by the way," Rose said sticking her hand out to shake the boy's hand. Instead of shaking her hand the boy bowed over at the waist and kissed it. She could instantly hear the boy's thoughts - although effectively muzzled by the separation of their hands through the glove – and Rose instantly blushed at the thoughts swirling through his mind although his thoughts were purely innocent.

"I'm Severus," Severus said as he stood back up. Rose smiled softly and Severus couldn't help but smile along.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Severus though I wish it had been under different circumstances," Rose said genuinely and she watched as the smile reached his eyes.

"Likewise, Rose," Severus said, his voice as soft as silk. He still had hold of her hand and he reluctantly let it go knowing that he best be moving on.

"I've got to go but I hope I see you again, Severus," Rose said taking a step away from the boy and turning around and going up the stairs that the Marauder's had gone up.

Rose followed the path that James's open mind laid out for her, he was probably the only one that knew of her secret and he hadn't told the others, yet. Rose found the Gryffindor common room easily but she didn't know the password. She didn't want to do this but it was the only way that she was going to get in. So Rose let down her mental wall and ignored all the thoughts that swarmed into her head. Rose strained to find the one mind that she was looking for and when she found it she connected with it.

_Please open the portrait James, _Rose thought hoping that James got her message. She didn't hear his answering thought because she had broken the connection and slammed her mental wall back into place as soon as she had sent the message. It wasn't long until the portrait opened and James was standing inside of the frame.

"What's the password so I know next time?" Rose asked James. He just looked at her for a while almost as if he had never seen her before.

"It's _apertus_." James says before he walks away from the open portrait. Rose follows him into the Gryffindor common room and is instantly bombarded with the red and gold colours of her new house.

"I'm going to go to bed," Rose says to James. James gives her a nod of the head to show that he heard her and points Rose in the direction of the girl's dormitories. Rose could feel sleep slowly tugging at her mind and it wasn't until Rose was in her dorm and in her bed with the curtain drawn shut that she gave in to sleep's embrace.

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><p><strong>AN: Thoughts? Did you like it, hate it? And what of James's and the Marauder's behaviour? Do you think Rose will condone it? Or will there be problems between the Gryffindors on their first day back? Let me know what you think and I'll try to have the sixth chapter to you guys soon! Also just for anyone who's interested there's a link to a couple character pic's (on my profile) for you guys to check out. And I know that Lucius is meant to be like a few years old than Sev but I like the Malfoy charm so shoot me lol.**


	6. Chapter 6: The Lion is an Angel

**A/N: Thank you as always goes to my Beta and to my readers I hope you enjoy this. Just as a side note the Italic sections are either dreams or thoughts. They should be easy to decipher between which is which lol. Enjoy and I'll chat with you at the bottom!**

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><p>Chapter 6 - The Lion is an Angel<p>

_The room was dim and cold, as if death resided inside. The lit fire place should have emanated warmth, but it did not. Rose's attention was drawn to a beautiful woman kneeling at the foot of a chair._

"_My Lord, he is nothing to me, nothing. Why would I care for a half-breed?" The woman asked. Her voice wavered slightly, though the man did not seem to notice it. Rose moved closer towards the woman and in doing so realized that she was looking down onto an older version of herself._

"_I would not know why, but I cannot deny that it concerns me. You are meant to be loyal to me and to me alone. You are _MY _wife; your disloyalty to me will be costly for him. No, I won't kill him but after I'm through with him he'll wish that he was dead." A high raspy voice echoed from the large seat. Rose watched as an alabaster hand snaked out and pushed the curls from her older self's face. Rose's older self still did not cry but she could see the pain in her eyes and knew that her older self was clearly in love with this other man, rather than the man that she kneeled for._

"_Very well my Lord, I'm sure whatever you have in mind will be suffice." The older Rose said and her shoulders crumpled slightly. The man in the chair got to his feet and Rose let out a silent scream. He was terrifying. He looked like a cross between a man and a snake, with irises that were blood red and rather than round they were slits like a cat. His nose was non-existent, except for two small slits where there should have been a nose and when he smiled his teeth were pointed and sharp. His lips curled up in a vicious sneer as his hand reached out to help up his wife. When the older Rose was on her feet he pulled her into his arms and crushed his lips to hers. "Do not forget that you belong to me. You may not wear my mark but you wear my ring. You belong to me Rosemarie and only to me." He shoved her away and the older Rose fell to the floor, lying in a broken heap. Her silent tears finally falling down her cheeks._

Rose's screams filled the girl's sixth year dormitory waking up the three other girls that also had been sleeping in the room. The redhead, the girl that Rose had seen James flirting with before, was the first to get out of bed and she was the first to start trying to wake up Rose as she slept in the bed on the left to Rose. It wasn't long until Mary and Alice were crowding the small area around Rose's bed as well; all three girls trying to wake up the sleeping new girl.

Rose woke with a start and physically flinched away from the hands touching her. It wasn't until she felt the concerned thoughts filling the other girls' heads that she realized that she wasn't in any danger.

"Hey, are you okay?" Lily asked. Rose looked at her for a moment before she gave a slight nod of her head.

"Sorry for waking you, it was just a bad dream." Rose replied her voice hoarse from the screams that had escaped her in her sleep. Rose looked to the other two girls and then down at her lap. "Thank you for your concern,"

"It's alright," Lily and Alice said together and the two girls broke down in a burst of giggles. Rose took a quick glance to the clock on her bedside table and saw that it was half past five.

"Well I'm going to go back to bed," Mary said as she made her way back to bed, Lily and Alice followed her example and it wasn't too long until the other girls were asleep. It was ten to six when Rose got up and changed from her pyjamas to a clean tracksuit as she couldn't get back to sleep. It would help if she went for a run. She'd be able to clear her head and get the images of her older-self kissing that evil man out of her mind.

Rose didn't know where she was running to, she didn't really care either. Her destination was pointless as she ran from tree to tree and then she saw the lake and her legs instantly pulled her towards it. The sun was just rising in the horizon and it looked beautiful as it tinged the clouds pink and orange and as it turned the black waters to blue. It was a few moments later that she realized that she wasn't alone when another person's thoughts entered into her unprotected mind. Rose looked around her but couldn't see anyone in her direct line of sight and decided to follow the incoherent thoughts instead.

It was as Rose came around the corner of the boat house that she saw him, his feet dipped into the water watching the sunrise as she had been. His black hair fell to his shoulders and his black eyes couldn't see her as he focused on a point just past nowhere. He was beautiful in a dark and broken kind of way and Rose felt truly sorry for this guy that seemed to have been bearing the weight of James' torment for Merlin knows how long.

"You know it's not polite to stare," Severus sneered sensing someone watching him but he couldn't be bothered to deal with anyone right now not even the most unintelligible Gryffindor. He had just had a nightmare of his worse memory, but more horrid and twisted as he had witnessed Lily snogging his tormentor.

"I'm sorry," Rose replied she could hear the sincerity in her words and the boy must have too because he turned around to face her.

"Oh," Severus said being almost as inarticulate as Black. "I didn't realize it was you. Rose right?" Severus asked when he could finally form a more articulate response.

Rose smiled softly as she came and sat down next to the boy. "Yea, I'm Rose. I'm sorry that James was being an idiot last night, he had no right to do that to you." Rose said tucking her legs underneath her as she leaned back on her arms.

"It's alright; you'd think I'd be used to it after five years." Severus replied in a sigh, his eyes watching Rose as she watched him.

"Still, he had no right Severus, and as long as I am here I won't condone his behaviour. At least we get to meet under better circumstances this time." Rose replied smiling softly as her eyes turned to the sunset and her attention turned inward towards the nightmare she had only had not too long ago. Severus watched Rose as her eyes glazed over as she seemed to watch the sun. After a few minutes when she still hadn't moved, he touched her bare arm trying to capture her attention again. He was sucked into the dream that he had never had, he watched everything until it was over and when his mind had returned to him his eyes were swarming with shock over what had just happened and concern for the girl sitting next to him.

Rose met Severus's eyes and saw the look in them. She knew that he had just witnessed her dream _without_ her intending for him to see. She sat up quickly and looked down into her lap. Severus's hand curled under her chin and lifted her head so that she could meet his eyes again.

"What was that Rose?" Severus asked. Rose met his eyes and he could see her fear in them. Was she afraid of him, or of what he had just seen?

"It was a nightmare that I had last night. Severus you can't… you can't tell anyone what you saw or what I'm about to tell you. Promise?" Rose asked softly hoping that she could trust the boy sitting next to her. Severus watched her eyes for a moment as they started to tear up with her fear still evident in them.

"I promise, but you need to tell me what happened." Severus replied his other hand coming up to push her dark hair behind her ear.

"I'm not everything that I appear to be. I… I can read people's minds, Severus. If I have contact with someone it makes the connection between my mind and their mind stronger. I can send messages or I can read their mind completely rather than just hearing the thoughts passing through their mind and if I know someone's mind well enough and their close enough I can connect to their mind without having to touch them." Rose said trying to explain to him what just happened knowing that she couldn't get out of telling him. She met his eyes again and this time Severus could see nothing in her eyes. "I hadn't intended to run into anyone this morning. I was just going for a run to clear my head and then I could feel a presence coming from here. I didn't know who it was and your thoughts weren't clear to me so I came to see who it was and then I saw you and I just wanted to apologize again for last night and talk to you. I never intended for any of this to happen, Severus." Rose said her eyes closing again as a tear rolled down her cheek. Severus felt a jolt of energy pass through him as she said his name; he loved how it rolled off of her tongue.

"I've got to go, I'll see you later?" Rose asked standing to her feet when Severus's hand had fallen away from her face. He stood up with her and his eyes never left her face as he gave her a quick nod. Rose gave a small smile before she walked away refusing to look back at him. She hadn't intended for Severus to find out this early. She knew that the truth would inevitably get out, how she was a freak, how she could  
>"control" someone's mind – though, truthfully, that was the one thing that she couldn't do – but she hadn't intended for anyone to find out this soon. Hell, it was her <em>first<em> day here. She had expected the rumours to have at least started up after Christmas not on her bloody first day, but Rose couldn't bring herself to be concerned. She felt as if she could trust Severus with her secret.

Rose walked in to a full common room, with the Marauders, Lily, Mary and Alice using up the chairs in front of the dead fire place. Lily was, again, the first to notice her and she squealed as she came rushing over and hugging Rose. Rose almost tumbled over with the red head clinging on to her but quickly righted herself before she could fall over. She could hear James' laughter and she gave a small chuckle as well; He could always make her laugh no matter the situation.

"See I told you she was fine Lily-petal. I told you that she had just gone for a run to clear her head. I told you that she always does this and did you listen to me? Noo!" James said his laughter still evident in his voice.

"I'm fine Lily, really. You can let me go now," Rose said trying to pry the girl off of her. Lily finally let go of Rose after a moment and Rose noticed that the girl's cheeks were marred red.

"I'm going to go upstairs and clean up, meet you at breakfast?" Rose said to no-one in particular and was surprised when she received a lot of "yea, sure" 's from the group.

It didn't take long for Rose to strip off her sweaty tracksuit, use a _Mundi Corpus_ and put on her brand new uniform. Rose had gotten a few extra white shirts and skirts and a ton of socks as well, while she had been in Diagon Alley, as she knew it would be useful.

When Rose came down dressed for her first day at Hogwarts she wasn't surprised to find that everyone had already gone down, except for Remus who had his back towards the girls' dorm.

"This is a pleasant surprise Remus," Rose murmured when she was standing beside the boy. Remus looked up at Rose and he gave her a lopsided smile. Rose thought it was sweet but she made sure that her mental walls were firmly in place before she put a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on let's get breakfast before Peter eats it all," Rose teased sending Remus a flirty wink before walking over to the door. They walk down to the great hall in easy conversation, mostly Remus asking Rose more questions about her old school and about her childhood with James.

"So what's the story behind old Maraudy Fort?" Remus asked a twinkle deep in his eyes as Rose's black gloved hand rested upon the arm that he held her on.

"You still remember me saying that?" Rose teased before continuing, "I don't know where James got the name from but his dad and my dad made us a tree house down in the park. There weren't many kids on our street so a lot of the time we had the tree house and the park for ourselves. James dubbed the tree house Maraudy Fort and it's been standing for more than a decade now." Rose smiled sadly as the memory of her father building the tree house for her and showing Mr Potter how to use a hammer and explaining what its purpose was came back to her. Remus watched her as her eyes danced with sadness and he felt sorry for the girl. He wished he knew what was wrong so that he could do something to help her. Rose continued after a moment, "James got the idea of the Marauders from the name of Maraudy Fort. He used to tell me that he'd get a small group of close friends and they'd be the Marauders together and that they would plague the halls of Hogwarts with the most incredible pranks ever. He used to say that I'd date one of the Marauders and I'd be the first Marauder's wife." Rose gave a soft laugh at the still ridicules idea. "Well its half true isn't it. James got his small group of friends and you were all dubbed Marauders by one of the original founders of Maraudy's." Rose gave Remus a soft smile as they stepped off of the last staircase. They weren't far from the great hall now and Remus found himself wishing that the other half of James's plans had come true for him and Rose.

They entered into the bustling great hall and made their way over to where their friends were sitting. Rose couldn't believe her luck. If it hadn't been for her friendship with James as kids she wouldn't have any friends now, well - except for Severus that is.

Rose sat down in between Sirius and Remus across from Peter, Lily and James. She fell into an easy conversation with the group as they ate pancakes, sausages, bacon and toast. They also had pumpkin juice to wash it all down. She watched James constantly flirting with Lily and she knew that he had not only fallen in love but that he had found the "one".

Professor McGonagall walked down the right hand side of her houses table handing out timetables. Rose looked up to her head of house when she stopped at her side. "Good Morning Professor," Rose said after she had dabbed away the residue of the juice from her lips.

"Good Morning, Miss Ashmore. Here is your time table," Professor McGonagall replied as she handed the girl her timetable. She handed the rest of the group their timetables and Rose looked down at hers. She supposedly had Defence against the Dark Arts first thing this morning with the Slytherin's.

"Oh God, DADA first thing this morning with the bloody _Slytherin's!" _Sirius groaned and the three other Marauders' groaned along with him.

"Is that bad?" Rose asked her confusion clear to the rest of the group.

"Yea. Truth is, that group spits out more dark wizards than the other three houses. It all started with Salazar Slytherin the founder of their house." Lily said her green eyes gleaming with hurt.

"Yea the worst is Snape or as we like to call him, Snivellus," Peter piped in his mouth still filled with food.

"Wasn't that that guy from last night?" Rose said trying to feign innocence. Remus gave her a questioning look.

"Yea that was the one James was going to teach a lesson to last night." Peter said again after swallowing his food this time. Remus continued to look at Rose trying to figure out the girl sitting next to him, why did it matter so much that the other's had been picking on Snape? Yea, admittedly it wasn't right for James to bully him so much but why did it matter to her so much?

"I'm going to go to class. Catch up with you guys later?" Rose asked getting up from where she was sitting. She grabbed her satchel bag and her new timetable and exited from the great hall as quickly as she possibly could. When she had rounded a corner Rose closed her eyes and tried to get her emotions under control. She couldn't afford to get angry. It wouldn't do well if any of them found out her other "freak" ability. She had gotten angry a lot at W.I.C.C.A whenever she thought of her mother or a guy was trying to make a move on her and a lot of those times – if not all – she had lost control and bad things happened when she lost control.

Severus couldn't help but watch the new girl who had filled his every conscious thought since the night before when she had rescued him. She was beautiful on the outside and her strange ability only added to her character, the one he was still uncovering. He couldn't help but notice her early flight and the angry red marks that surrounded her eyes. Severus got up to follow her and he could feel his feet slapping against the ground as he made his own early exit from the great hall.

Rose was struggling to get her emotions under control but she couldn't stop thinking about what James had been about to do last night nor about the snide, cruel remarks that the Marauders made about Slytherin's, and Severus in particular. She couldn't understand how they could be so cruel toward other human beings. Rose could still feel the anger burning through her veins when a hand touched her shoulder and turned her around. Rose closed her eyes instantly revelling in the familiar presence.

"Rose, are you okay?" The soft baritone of Severus' voice asked, concern fluttering inside of him.

"I'm fine Severus. It was just something that those idiots said. I don't understand how they can be so cruel." Rose said her eyes still closed, she could feel her pulse slowing down and her anger vanishing as Severus's concern flooded over her. Rose finally opened her eyes after a moment and was surprised at how close Severus was standing next to her.

"Why are you being so nice to me? After what you found out this morning I thought you would avoid me." Rose whispered, she could feel her eyes watering as she searched Severus's eyes. For what, she didn't know.

"Last night, after you were sorted and went to Potter's side, I thought I'd never be close to you - never get to know you - and then you go and save me and I couldn't get you out of my head. I hardly know you Rose, but I wouldn't abandon you. Not when you clearly need a friend as much as I do." Severus replied and Rose could feel her tears flowing down her cheeks. After a few moments Rose's tears stopped falling.

"So what class do you have now?" Rose asked trying to break the tension. Severus gave a slight chuckle before telling her the answer that she already knew. His smile seemed strained as if it was uncommon for him to be smiling and with James constantly bullying him it was. Rose couldn't help but smile back at him.

"So will you walk me to class then Sev?" Rose asked, her smile causing the smile on Severus's face to reach his eyes.

"Of course Rose," Severus replied. He didn't offer her an arm or a hand, but it didn't matter. They made their way up to the classroom in silence and they separated when Rose saw her group of friends waiting for her outside of the classroom.

"Why were you with Snape?" Remus asked when Rose had reached his side. He knew the rest of the group was listening but he was watching her eyes, watching for any signs of her dishonesty.

"Because she's his new saviour; she's filled Lily's post since last night," Sirius spat out, showing his dislike of the girl's behaviour with the slimy git.

"Wait what happened last night?" Remus asked, he saw Sirius opened his mouth but Rose cut in.

"James decided that he was going to bully Severus," Rose said feeling the strain in her own voice. Silence fell over the group as they waited for their new teacher. Rose could already feel the strain of the first day and the strain of her heroics the night before. She could feel someone's eyes on her and she looked up to find that it was Severus. His eyes said it all – so much so that Rose didn't need her telepathic powers to know what he was trying to say – What's their problem? Rose didn't know what her new friends' problem with Severus was. All she knew was that it was going to be a long day.

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><p><strong>AN: Okay so the title is lyrics from a song, if you can guess the song (and of course you need to leave a review with your guess) you will get an extra little bit to the preview, if you review you get a preview so win win for everyone even if you don't guess the song or who it's by. The song is on the playlist for this novel and by the end of the novel you should have every song on the playlist! Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this and I will have the next chapter to you soon!**


	7. Chapter 7: All I Feel is Strange

A/N: Sorry about the delay in posting! Thank you as always to all of my readers and to my amazing Beta! This may feel as some kind of a filler and on one hand it is but on the other it isn't if that makes any sense lol. A little bit more is revealed about Rose's past and about her talents, this is probably the last chapter that I'll do of the first day. Enjoy and I'll meet you at the bottom!

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><p>Chapter 7 – All I Feel Is Strange<p>

It wasn't long until Professor Cox had arrived and let the students in. Rose hadn't got a good look at the teacher as she had been thinking as she stared off into space and it wasn't until Remus had tugged on her gloved hand that she had realized that the class was filling into the room. It wasn't until she was in her seat besides Remus that she finally got a good look of her teacher. He was young, his aquamarine eyes sparkled in the bright light of the room and his mahogany brown hair fell in his eyes. He had stubble and he was muscular but besides his good looks Rose could not deny that her Professor was extremely familiar.

"Good Morning class, I am Professor Cox. As I'm new here I thought I would let you duel other students in this class to test where you are in your education. I want you to use non-verbal magic as you duel each other. And I only want you to use stinging hexes and _expelliarmus_, anything else and you will be eliminated. The last two people standing will duel each other and the winner will get 50 points for their house. Now begin!" Professor Cox said to his students his southern drawl evident to Rose who instantly knew who he was and not just as "Professor Cox"; He was Ethan Cox. He had graduated at the end of her third year but he had been like a big brother to her, he told countless boys – whom had been pursuing her – to get lost. He had been one of her closest friends and she had missed him as she did her fourth and fifth year. She held back her laughter of joy as the realization struck her.

"Be my partner?" Remus asked besides her as he watched James and Sirius partner up. Rose turned her attention to Remus who was watching her now and she smiled devilishly at him as she said "As long as you don't take it easy on me," before she got up and put her bag in the corner with the rest of the other student's bags.

Rose watched Remus as they bowed towards each other; she stood, face forward, ready to duel. It was over in a blink of an eye with a nicely placed hex from Rose to Remus's wand hand which made him dropped his wand. It had been over in five seconds and Rose could see the surprised look in Remus's eyes. She could tell that she had moved faster, acted faster than he had expected and it had cost him the duel. Rose moved from person to person, stinging their wand hand or using the _expelliarmus _spell to disarm her opponent. Each time the duel went for longer, but Rose was focused and ready for each opponent and it seemed to those watching her that she duelled effortlessly. She could feel herself flowing as she duelled one opponent after another, almost as if she was dancing rather than duelling and Rose loved the feeling of how in control she was over her own magic.

Rose wasn't surprised that she had gotten this far. She gave a hand to the Slytherin boy she had just been duelling to help him up but he knocked her hand aside. She could hear the Marauders cheers for another of her outstanding performance and she gave a little mock curtsy. She felt a tap on her shoulder as she rose back up and smiled softly as she saw Severus standing next to her.

_Don't hold back, I'll be fine Sev, _Rose thought letting the boy next to her that she was prepared to take him on in this duel. Severus gave her a soft smile and he walked away without saying another word. He turned around when he was far enough away from the girl and Rose had put up her mental wall as she watched him walk away.

They bowed formally and then the dance between them began. They swirled and twirled ducking and avoiding the hexes being fired in all directions. They were running out of time and they seemed to be an even match, it was as the bell rang that Rose got in the last stinging hex and it caught Severus's wand hand making him drop his wand with a yelp. The Gryffindor cheers flooded into the room as the Marauders ran up to give Rose a massive group hug.

"Alright settle down everyone, Congratulations Miss Ashmore and Mister Snape that was a very intense and very entertaining duel. As promised, 50 points for Gryffindor and 30 for Slytherin as you both did exceptionally well. Now everyone best be off to your next class except for you Miss Ashmore, I would like to have a word - if I may?" Rose heard Professor Cox say, Rose gave the boys a hug back and then wiggled out of their arms. Their earlier fight lost in Rose's victory over the _whole_ class. Remus promised her that he'd save her a seat in Ancient Runes. She agreed quietly giving him a soft smile and waited until the rest of the class had filed out of the room before she ran over to Ethan and wrapped her arms around his waist. They were both smiling when Rose stepped out of her "big brother's" embrace.

"How did you know it was me?" Ethan asked smiling from ear to ear. Rose smiled back and gave a slight laugh. "No one could forget that sweet drawl of yours Coxly," Rose said Ethan sat down on one of the students' desks and Rose sat down as well.

"We have to organize a time when you're free next so we can chat," Ethan said to his "little sister".

"We do because right now I have a class to get to. Do you want to write me up a slip," Rose asked, Ethan gave a slight nod of his head as he made his way over to the teacher's desk.

"You always drew attention from my kind," Ethan said as way of conversation to the girl in the room with him. He had noticed the woodsy scent that Mister Lupin carried and he knew instantly from his wolf senses that the poor kid suffered from lycanthropy as well.

"What do you mean?" Rose said confused by her "big brother's" out-of-context comment. He met her eyes as he walked over to her and he held her hand as he gave the piece of paper that he was holding.

"You know what I am Rose, don't play games and I have a feeling that Mister Lupin has a secret that he doesn't want many people to know. Don't go snooping around in his business though, if he tells you, he tells you. If not, just… just be careful, okay?" Ethan said. Rose could sense his distress and told him that she would be careful as he handed her the slip to excuse her for being late to her next class. Rose ran until she had gotten to her next class grateful that she at least had Coxly back if not his whole pack.

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><p>Rose made her way outside, she was alone now and she couldn't believe that she had just snapped at James. The others were all still in the Great Hall enjoying their lunch, Rose ran to a weeping willow in the distance and sat down under its shade as she thought back to her fight with James.<p>

_Rose made her way down the hall. She had just had her first transfiguration class at Hogwarts and the others were far ahead of her as Professor McGonagall had wanted to have a word with her. It was as Rose made her way to the great hall that she heard a commotion coming down from a dim corridor._

"_I didn't do _anything_ to her. I didn't confund her or put her under a love potion. She speaks to me because she _wants_ to, Potter." She heard Severus sneer and it was his voice that drew her towards the group of boys. Severus was the first to see her as he was the only one facing her, all four of the Marauders had their backs to her and it pained her to see that Remus was amongst them as well in James's torment towards Severus._

"_You filthy liar. I don't believe you. Rose doesn't associate herself with slimy gits like you, Snivellus." James sneered and Rose couldn't believe her ears or her eyes, this simply _was not_ happening; but it was and they still hadn't noticed her yet._

"_Believe what you like Potter but it's the truth, heck why don't you _ask_ her why she's actually talking to me?" Severus sneered again, nodding his head in my direction. That was what had made the Marauder's turn around surprised that they now had an audience._

"_I can't believe you James. I thought I told you last night that I won't stand for this bullying. I've told you since the day you started bullying people that I won't stand for it and the fact that you thought you'd be able to do this without me finding out is ridiculous and you know _why_ it's ridiculous! Merlin James did you really think me that stupid?" Rose said with a deadly calm. She could feel her cheeks burning again, her blood boiling inside of her and she knew that her other "freak" ability was coming into use. She couldn't take her eyes off of the boys as they stared at her in horror and she knew that her eyes instead of being a dark forest green like her deceased father's they were blood red like the monster from her dream._

"_Rose, your eyes," Remus whispered and she shut her eyes and flinched from the horror and terror that filled his voice._

"_I suggest you let him down and then get out of here before I lose it. James you know what happens when I lose it. Please, for the sake of Merlin, don't let that happen," Rose begged. James knew all of her secrets. He knew how her anger could overcome her as it consumed her. He knew the horrible things that happened when she lost control and so she was begging him not to let her get so mad that it would happen. She heard the drop of a body and knew that they had let Severus down and she felt the four Marauders run away from her, James lingering just a moment later. Rose didn't wait around for Severus. She left before he could catch up to her, before he could question her on what had just happened or before he ran away from her, never wanting to speak to her again._

She could feel her tears falling down her cheeks; she could feel her body shaking violently from her sobs. No, she hadn't lost it, but on the other hand she almost had and it was just as bad because they had all seen the worse of her abilities. It was the fact that her mental wall was down from her loss of control that she realized that someone was behind her.

"I just want to be alone Severus, please just go," Rose asked the boy that she knew was Severus. It wasn't until said boy sat down next to her and said, "No Rose I won't go away," did she realize that it was not Severus, but Remus. Rose could tell that she looked a mess but she looked at Remus anyhow, wanting to see him.

"I'm sorry that you had to see that Remus. I didn't want all of my secrets to be revealed in the first day but I just hate it when James thinks he has the right to bully other people." Rose looked at Remus and felt her lips tugging into a sad smile. "Can I trust you Remus? You saw the worst of my abilities; let me show you the better part of them." Remus gave her a small smile and Rose took that as his confirmation. She slowly pulled off one glove and then the other and held her hands out for Remus's whom simply put his hands in hers without anything being said. Rose recreated the image of the first time she met all four of the boys and she inserted her emotions into the image so that he could feel what she felt on that day. The memory ended as she watched the boys walk out of Madam Malkin's and she found herself looking into Remus's topaz eyes. She went on to explain what she had told Severus earlier on that morning after she had sent a message to James saying _Come and meet me at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, I want to talk, bring the other Marauders and Lily with you._

"Everything that I can do, Remus, is a curse. I don't want it, but I can't get rid of it. It's a part of me. I'm sorry that you saw me lose control before, everything's worse when I lose control. I can't even control my own mind. It consumes me, the dark magic that all of this was born from. It consumes me and it terrifies me." Rose confessed. Remus only squeezed her hands trying to comfort the girl before him, the more he got to know her, the more he understood that even though she wasn't what he had been expecting, she was still a girl that could keep his secret and love him all the same for it. Rose let out a soft laugh feeling the presences and hearing the thoughts of the others.

"And here come the rest of our small group," Rose said her eyes searching behind her for the rest of the group. Remus let out a slight chuckle as he saw their friends making their way towards them.

"You sent a message to James didn't you?" Remus asked his eyes finding Rose's again and she smiled softly towards the boy.

"Yes, yes I did." Rose replied and then she felt them standing around them. "Take a seat guys there's a lot that I need to explain." She shifted slightly so that she could sit next to Remus while she explained to the others. James, Sirius, Peter and Lily sat down and the group of six made a small circle.

"First things first, I should probably explain to you James why I've been so bitchy today and well yesterday as well. But first, did you hear about what my mother did the night that I ran away?" Rose asked her eyes trained on James her eyes pleading him not to say too much out loud.

"Yea we heard about what happened. We heard about how she killed your muggle father in cold blood and we saw her set the dark mark above the house." James spat, Rose physically flinched from his cold tone and she braced herself for what she was about to tell him. She was trying to ignore all the horror and sympathetic looks on her friends' faces but the looks were still there no matter how much she tried to ignore it.

"Well she visited me on the night before we caught the train. She acted as if nothing happened and then she demanded that I visit her and Prothorow during the winter or Easter holidays. I wanted to kill her, James, but I didn't," Rose said her hatred seething through her words. "I'm sorry that I've been bitchy last night and today and I'm sorry that I almost lost it when I found you guys before lunch," Rose said apologizing for her horrible behaviour, even though she felt that bullying was wrong she had no reason to take it out on her friends.

"It's alright, just next time tell me if your mum comes around or owls you okay?" James said. Rose met his hazel eyes and she agreed.

"Alright. Now that James has forgiven me I called the rest of you to show you what I just showed Remus. You guys saw the worst of my abilities and I wanted to show you the better part of a curse that's haunted me since my birth. So close your eyes, relax your minds." Rose said and waited as they relaxed their minds; it was easy to share thoughts with one person even if their minds weren't relaxed but it was hard to do that with multiple people. "Okay everyone, hold hands," Rose said and they all complied except for Remus whose hand hadn't left hers.

Rose closed her eyes and felt for all the blank minds around her. She drew them in as she found each one and held a connection between each mind. Rose had never shared a connection between six minds at once but she tried to send them a picture of what she felt when she had seen all their concern for her this morning. The image vanished from her mind and she collapsed against Remus still conscious but weak none the less.

"Hey Rose are you okay?" She heard Remus ask as he slightly shook her.

"I'm fine, just tired. I've… I've never done that before," Rose whispered, feeling extremely tired.

"Fuck," James swore but Rose could barely hear him. "I've never seen her so exhausted before. We better take her up to Madam Pompfry." James said, he instructed Remus to carry her to the infirmary because he was the strongest out of them and Rose in her half-awake state felt comfortable and safe in his arms. She buried her head in his chest and breathed in the woodsy scent mixed in with fresh parchment and spearmint.

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><p>Remus watched over the girl. He couldn't leave her side. He was worried about her and he didn't know what had happened apart from the obvious. He could sense someone approaching and he whipped out his wand as he spun around to find that Professor Cox had entered into the almost empty room.<p>

"What are you doing here?" Remus asked and he cursed himself for sounding scared. There was no reason for him to be afraid of his teacher, was there?

"I've come to check up on Miss Ashmore, Mister Lupin. How is she?" Ethan asked eyeing the younger boy he still had the wand pointing towards him.

"She hasn't woken up since she fainted. Madam Pompfry says that she'll be fine but I'm worried." Remus replied sorrowfully, turning his head to watch the sleeping girl. He sat down on the bed again as Professor Cox took the empty seat.

"How do you know her?" Remus asked curiously. His eyes never leaving Roses face.

"We went to school together I graduated when she was still in her third year," Ethan replied, he could sense the younger boy stiffening up under his gaze and he sighed. "You don't need to be so frightened Mister Lupin. I know of your secret and I do not hate you for it. Professor Dumbledore told me but even so I sniffed it out the moment you entered into my classroom." Remus's eyes shot towards the Professor who now was staring at Rose but he met Remus's eyes as he continued "Yes, I am a Lycanthrope as well Mister Lupin. Rose knows, she used to be like a sister to me when we were both at school. She knew all of my pack of course and she didn't hate us. She told you of her secret, didn't she?" Ethan said. His eyes had drifted to watch Rose as he spoke of her almost as if he thought that she had heard him.

Remus choked out a 'yes' surprised that his _teacher_ of all people was a werewolf.

"She's not going to hate you Mister Lupin, she trusted you enough with her secret and thus she will be loyal to you. She was always loyal to those that she trusted her secret with, me and my pack included. We were probably the only blokes in that school that treated her as if she was a human being and not a play thing," Ethan chuckled, his eyes roaming back to Rose. He picked up her left hand and rubbed circles into the back of it with his thumb. The man and boy sat in silence both watching over the girl that Remus was now friends with. He used his wand and cast a time spell and saw that it was getting closer to curfew.

"Go Mister Lupin, before you run into another teacher and get caught. I'll watch over her," Ethan said, his eyes not leaving the girl's face. Rose let out a whimper and Ethan could sense that she was in some way aware of both of their presences.

Remus wanted to leave a kiss on her head but decided against it as he left the room, along with the sleeping girl who had occupied a lot of his thoughts since the day that he met her. He hoped that by the morning she was awake and ready for the next day because he didn't know if he would be able to concentrate in class if his every thought kept floating back towards her while she was gone.

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><p>AN: Last week's chapter was "Lion" by Rebecca St. James and it was off of the album "Music Inspired by" The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe CD (though secretly that was not where I first heard the song lol). This chapter's title was again lyrics from a song on the playlist, if you can guess what the song is called, who it's by and where it's from then you get a little bit extra on the preview (of course you have to review to submit your guesses), if you just review then you still get a preview. What did you think of this chapter? Can't wait to hear your thoughts!


	8. Chapter 8: One of the Pack

A/N: Sorry about the delay in posting! Thank you as always to all of my readers and to my amazing Beta! Enjoy! And we'll have a little chat at the bottom!

A/N2 (30.11.11): Thank you to my new amazing Beta MysteryTears who went over this chapter and picked out the flaws that was previously in this.

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><p>Chapter 8 – One of the Pack<p>

Rose woke up to the late morning light. She couldn't remember where she was or how she got there. She blinked a few times trying to adjust to the bright lights and when her eyes had finally adjusted, the outside world was crystal clear rather than the blurry image that she had woken up to.

"You sure that waking up this late isn't the worst of your abilities?" Ethan teased as he saw that Rose was finally awake. Rose turned her head and saw that Coxly was sitting in the single chair beside her bed. She let out a laugh at his little joke and felt better almost instantly, knowing that he had been here watching over her.

"Yes, I'm quite positive that waking up late isn't the worst of my abilities. What are you doing here, Coxly?" Rose asked sitting up in the hospital bed that she occupied.

"I had to make sure that you were okay, you've been out for the past three days. Your friends are going mad with worry. Especially Mister Lupin." Ethan said, his eyes twinkling at the memory of finding the boys fretting over his 'little sister'.

"What's the time?" Rose asked, hoping that it wasn't too late. Ethan looked down at his muggle watch on his left wrist and then back up at Rose with a goofy smile on his lips.

"Why it's half past twelve, honestly Rose that's bad even for you." Ethan teased. Rose gave a little scoff and pulled down the covers.

"So how has the pack been?" Rose asked by way of conversation as she stepped behind the changing frame and got herself dressed into some proper clothes.

"They're alright," Ethan replied twisting his wand between his fingers, "Holloway's getting married next year to Helen Nixon, Myers is the potions master in New York and Blackburn hasn't been keeping in contact with me, Holloway or Myers. The latest that I've heard about him was that he had joined up with Voldemort." Ethan said listing his pack's achievements. Rose emerged out from behind the changing frame. There wasn't any emotion on her face as she said, "You know I never liked Blackburn, there was always something amiss with him."

Rose picked up her wand and her school bag from the bedside table and then turned to Coxly and smile softly. "It was nice catching up with you Coxly but I'm going to go and get some lunch, because I am starving. I'll see you around." With that said, she left the infirmary and made her way down to the great hall, hoping that there was still some lunch left.

Remus, Sirius, James, Peter, Lily, Mary, Alice and Frank sat in a group together at the Gryffindor table. Remus's mood was extremely grouchy as the full moon was in three nights time and also because he was getting constantly distracted as his thoughts kept returning to Rose who – to his knowledge – was still asleep in one of the infirmary beds. None of the group paid Remus' behaviour any mind. Although, truth be told, they were all worried for Rose. It was a solemn group that Rose found sitting at the Gryffindor table, most of them picking at their lunches as they talked quietly amongst themselves. Rose approached the group. It wasn't until she had actually sat down next to Remus that they noticed her at all.

Remus stiffened as he smelt the scent of roses, rain and old books. He turned his head and found that Rose was now sitting beside him. He felt a low growl ripple inside of him that he couldn't stop from escaping him.

Rose turned and looked at Remus for a moment, an incredulous look on her face. Had he just growled at her? Rose shook it off and simply gave the boy next to her a soft smile, and then she turned and met the gazes of the rest of their group.

"Hey guys," Rose said before she started piling her plate high with food. She hadn't been kidding when she told Coxly that she was starving. The group continued talking softly as Rose ate her food. Remus' grouchy mood had lifted slightly as Rose was now sitting next to him, and things were back to the new normality that had found their group.

On the table across, a certain Slytherin had noticed the new addition to the group of Gryffindor's that he absolutely loathed. He let out a sigh of relief that he simply couldn't suppress. Rose was okay and he felt infinitely stupid for being so worried about her. They were barely acquaintances and he had been worried about her as if they had been best friends for years.

"So when did you wake up?" Remus asked, trying to start a conversation between himself and the girl that he had been worried sick over. Rose's green eyes met his topaz ones and Remus let out a sigh seeing that she was perfectly fine.

"Just now, I had a run in with Professor Cox on my way down here. He told me that you had been very worried over me," Rose said softly, her eyes never leaving Remus'. She wondered when he had started caring for her so much. At the mention of Professor Cox another low growl rippled from Remus' chest and Rose's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Now Rose was sure that she hadn't just imagined it as James gave Remus a questioning look but he didn't seem surprised at all to hear Remus growling.

"Hey are you okay?" Rose asked Remus, trying to comprehend why he had just growled at the mention of their Professor. She didn't miss the flash of emotion in his eyes before he turned to her with a soft smile playing on his lips.

"I'm fine Rose, just my stomach." Remus gave a slight chuckle and started munching on a piece of fruit. "Come on we've got Charms next. Let's go," Remus said getting up wanting to spend some time alone with the girl. Rose looked up into Remus eyes and could feel her lips pulling up into a soft smile. She obliged his request by standing up and saying goodbye to her other friends before making her way out of the great hall with Remus. They walked slowly towards their next class together.

"So what exactly happened the other day? James seemed to know what had happened in some sense but he wouldn't tell the rest of us," Remus said, making his fears known to Rose. Rose contemplated how to answer his question. What exactly had happened the other day?

"I was already emotionally drained, and then trying to connect all six of our minds at once just simply zapped the rest of the energy that I had left over. Those two factors plus the fact that I had almost lost it earlier on just made the situation worse. So, in order for myself to recover and heal from the strain I put myself under, I simply rested for the past few days," Rose said softly. Remus' hand found hers and gave a soft, understanding squeeze before letting go.

"The most I've ever done before was connecting Coxly and his pack's minds up. They wanted me to leave a permanent connection between their minds. There were only four of us, - Coxly, myself and two other people - but still they wanted a permanent connection between their minds. I had been asleep for a week and a half after I did it. My mind was sore and lagging for weeks afterwards." Rose gave up on holding a soft laugh back at the memory that poured over her. She could remember the strain she had been under during the month that had passed after that physical strain on her mind, she could remember Coxly's, Holloway's and Myer's jubilation at the ability to read each other's minds and send silent messages between the group. The memory was a fond one to her and she wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world. Remus was pleasantly surprised at Rose's mirth at the memory and he wanted to laugh along with her but he had to ask her the question that was on his mind.

"You mean Professor Cox don't you?" Remus asked surprised at the gentleness of his voice although he had been seethingly jealous ever since the first night that Professor Cox had relieved him from watching over Rose. Rose's eyes found Remus' again and she searched his eyes, – for what she didn't know – and she answered him when she had found it. "Yes Remus. I mean Professor Cox. We went to W.I.C.C.A together, although he had been a few good years ahead of me. He was like a big brother to me, and I a little sister to him. Nothing more and nothing less, but I suppose you already know that don't you," Rose stated, already knowing the answer. She received a soft, "yes," anyways.

"What do you mean by his pack?" Remus asked though already knowing the answer; he simply wanted to hear it from her. He wanted to gauge her reaction to werewolves as much as he had at the welcoming feast.

"Professor Cox suffers from Lycanthropy. He does not completely embrace the wolf, but he knows what he is and he is comfortable with who he is. He's a good man, and a decent brother. He wouldn't ever hurt anyone. You need to believe me when I say that you can trust him Remus! Please, please don't go giving away his secret," Rose implored Remus to understand, to trust her, and his hands landed down on her shoulders not only keeping her still but keeping her with him.

"I trust your judgement Rose and I will never give away his secret," Remus swore knowing that his Professor's secret was just as discriminating as his own. Remus gave Rose a soft smile. "Come on. Let's go inside before we get caught hanging out here." They both made their way into the classroom and found seats next to each other as they waited for their Professor and the rest of their class to arrive.

James and Sirius had joined up with Rose and Remus after Charms had finished. They had had the class together but James and Sirius had been sitting at the table behind them since they had not been able to get to either of the tables besides Rose's and Remus'. Sirius's bark-like laughter was filling up the hallway and the rest of the group couldn't help but laugh along with him.

"Did you see the look on Professor Flitwick's face when I made Helga Penfold's ink bottle explode in her face! It was priceless!" Sirius exclaimed and another howl of laughter went through the three boys and Rose let out a soft groan. Yes, the prank in and of itself was harmless but Rose felt the poor girls mortification and she wondered if the three Marauders even knew how Helga had felt?

The class room was almost full when they entered into the room, there was one empty table and two half empty tables. Sirius and James made a mad dash for the single empty table and Rose and Remus shared exasperated looks at their friend's behaviours. Rose saw an empty seat next to Severus and made her way towards him as Remus took a seat next to another Gryffindor that Rose did not know.

"Hey," Rose said when she had sat down next to Severus. He looked her way, wondering who would sit next to him. Rose smiled as she saw Severus' look turn from one of scorn to one of delight.

"I need to get used to you sneaking up on me," He replied by way of greeting and Rose's smile only widened.

"Well I hope it takes a while," Rose replied. When she saw his confusion she simply stated, "I like seeing your delight whenever I come to talk to you," Rose teased. It was true. She did like seeing the happiness that overcame him when she sought him out rather than the scornful, shutoff blank expression that he gave the rest of the world.

"Good Afternoon class and Welcome to your first lesson of Advanced Potions. I am Professor Slughorn though you should all know that by know." Professor Slughorn's tease was as obvious as his round belly. He looked like a young Santa Clause except he had dirty blonde hair and he had no snowy white beard. Plus the man was dressed in simple brown robes rather than the exalting red outfit one usually applied with Father Christmas!

"Now, for a little test, I have placed out these five potions. I wonder, Mister Snape, if you can tell us what is in this first potion?" Professor Slughorn said and Severus stood up from his chair and came to the first potion that Professor Slughorn had pointed out.

Severus looked down into the crystal clear potion, and he knew instantly from the texture, colour and odourless smell exactly what the potion was. "This is Vertiserum, sir. It is the most powerful truth serum in the world," He stated blandly and made his way back to his seat.

"That is correct, Mister Snape. Ten points to Slytherin. Now, who would like to tell me what the next one is?" Slughorn asked and a couple of hands shot up, including Rose's, Lily's, Remus's and two other Slytherin's that Rose didn't know.

"Ah how about you Miss…" Slughorn said, seeing Rose for the first time. Rose smiled brightly at her new Professor. "Miss Ashmore, Sir," Rose said getting up from her seat beside Severus; she moved towards the second potion.

"That is Amortentia, sir. It's the strongest love potion in the world. It's different for everybody. For example: I smell, fresh parchment, peppermint and… chocolate." Rose replied lying on the last example, in truth she had smelt that woodsy smell that she associated with werewolves, Coxly and his pack in particular.

"Thank you for your example Miss Ashmore and you are absolutely correct. Ten points for Gryffindor," Slughorn replied as Rose made her way over to her seat beside Severus.

Professor Slughorn called up on Lily, Remus and another Slytherin boy that, Rose had now learnt, was called Lestrange.

"Today you will be brewing the Draught of Living Death," Slughorn said putting emphasis on the title for dramatic effect. Rose could barely control the bubbling giggles that threatening to burst from her. "The one who can brew it correctly will win this tiny vial of Felix Felicis or, more commonly known as, liquid luck. You have just under an hour and a half. Good luck!" Professor Slughorn cried and there was a rush of movement as people went searching for the correct page.

Everyone rushed, trying to organize themselves and get their potions done first. As Rose blocked out the noise around her and focused her mind on the task at hand, she found herself going at a slow but steady pace, going through the steps and motions as if this was simply just another dance. Although Severus' mind was focused on the potion at hand he was still overly aware of the girl beside him, her body heat rolling off of her in waves – unknown on her part – towards him. He blocked out her particular scent – which smelled of roses, rain and old books – and sent his entire focus onto brewing the potion to perfection.

There was hardly a moment when Rose was unaware of what was going on around her – except for perhaps while she was asleep – and so Rose knew instantly that someone was planning on causing mischief. The actual perpetrators thoughts were unusually quiet and with the mass of chaotic thoughts from the other students in the room Rose could not determine where the mischief was coming from, or who was causing it or even what type of mischief was waiting to be caused. It wasn't until she heard a whirling sound coming closer towards her did she realize that the mischief she had sensed was being sent in her direction. She had a few seconds to quickly cast a shield charm over herself and her potion before the fore-sensed mischief had reached her table. She watched in horror as Severus's potion exploded before them and she had a split second to throw a shielding charm over him as well. She was fortunately lucky to be in time as none of Severus's clearly perfect potion had landed on him – or her for that matter – but it had eaten away at his half of table and his cauldron. Rose already had a sneaking suspicion as to who was the maker of this almost disastrous mischief. Slughorn gave a yelp of surprise at the sound of the explosion and Rose was grateful that nobody had been hit by Severus's potion.

"Oh my, are you quiet alright Mister Snape?" Slughorn asked, rushing over to their table. Severus simply nodded his head still in shock that his cauldron had exploded right before him. "What happened?" Slughorn turned to Rose and she only gave a slight shrug of her shoulders. "I don't know, sir. I think someone put something into Severus' cauldron." She stated simply. Slughorn gave her a suspicious look and Severus shouted out "No! It wasn't her, sir. She'd never do something like that." Rose was surprised by his outcry of defence in her name and she could feel her cheeks redden slightly.

"Alright, as long as neither of you were hurt." Slughorn said nodding his head slowly and then – almost as an afterthought – added "Would you mind terribly if you shared your cauldron with Mister Snape for the rest of the lesson?" Rose didn't mind sharing at all and she made that perfectly clear to the Professor before he walked away.

Severus moved closer towards the girl, strangely thankful for another chance to talk to her again. They were so close now that their knees were slightly brushing against each other's.

"So I heard that you were in the infirmary for the past three days," Severus said as a conversation starter. "What happened?" he asked, his black eyes looking up into her dark forest green ones.

"I was an idiot. I thought I'd be able to connect a few minds together, you know to show the others what I can do but I overexerted myself and kind of passed out, hence, why I've been sleeping in the infirmary for the past three days." There was a soft smile tugging at Rose's lips as she relayed to Severus what had happened. Severus gave a slight chuckle and then his expression turned serious.

"Thank you by the way," He said. Rose was surprised by his words and not knowing why he was thanking her asked "Whatever for?"

Severus lifted an eyebrow at her "For putting up that shielding charm over me." he lowered his voice softly and continued, "Not a lot of people would have done that for me. To be quite frank, nobody would have done that for me." Rose was – quite admittedly – not surprised by this. She could tell that Severus didn't have very many friends, and that if he had any before he simply did not have them anymore. She placed a gentle hand on his arm, making sure that he was paying attention to her as she lowered her voice as well and said "That's what friends are for," whilst smiling softly at him. Severus smiled softly at her too, before they got started on Rose's half completed potion. She reached out for James's mind and sent to him _We'll talk about this later,_ before turning her attention completely towards Severus and the potion at hand.

The class continued and five minutes before the bell rang, Professor Slughorn pulled them to a finish and captured their attention once more. Slughorn went over the twenty student's cauldrons, testing the draughts quality by placing a single leaf into each cauldron. Rose was happy with the reaction that she received from Slughorn when he had finally gotten to her cauldron.

"Wow, absolutely marvellous, the two of you have brewed this to perfection. I'd say one drop and it'd kill us all. I'll let the two of you decide who should have the small vial of Felix Felicis" Slughorn said handing over the small vial between the Gryffindor and Slytherin.

"I want you to have it Rose. I was lucky enough in this past week to have met you," Severus said, there was no doubt in Rose's mind of his honesty. It was absolutely clear in his voice.

"No, Severus. You have it. You'll need it more than I will," Rose said, refusing to take the vial from him. Severus reluctantly pocketed the vial before standing up and picking up his book bag. Rose didn't try to stop him from leaving, although she had to admit that she was sad to see him go.

James and Sirius came rushing over to Rose, and they were begging her desperately to forgive them, that they didn't think their prank was going to make the cauldron explode and that they hadn't realized how strong "Snivellus'" potion was. Rose simply ignored their pleading and told them that it was okay and that thankfully nobody had been hurt. She made her way out the door and the group made their way down to the great hall for dinner, Rose holding onto both James' and Remus' arms. She was one of them now and she wouldn't let them forget it.

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><p>AN: Last week's chapter title was from the song "Strange" by Tokio Hotel ft. Kerli and it was off of the album Almost Alice (which for those of you who don't know is the music inspired by the 2010 movie Alice in Wonderland, which I absoluetly adore because it has the always sensual Alan Rickman in it!). If you review (and I can't stress enough how much your thoughts in the form of reviews means to me) you will get a preview of next weeks chapter. I have decided to post once a week, due to the fact that I'm trying to find a job and my attention needs to be focused on finding one as my mother constantly reminds me ^_^ So I will be posting once a week from now on, it will either be on a Friday/Saturday. Please review because I'd love to hear from you. And if possible check out my other Harry Potter fanfic's (all one-shot's for now). Thanks Guys and I'll see you next week ^_^

For those of you who are curious this is the playlist thus far; At the moment I have roughly 30 something songs on the playlist for this novel, hopefully by the time that I've finished writing this I will have used all those song's as title's in some way or another ^_^

- "Lion" by Rebecca St James

- "Strange" by Tokio Hotel ft. Kerli


	9. Chapter 9: Taking Chances

**A/N: Please not guys that this is UNBETA-ED! I wanted to get this chapter to you guys before the week was over and as I don't know where my Beta's gone to I simply did a quick read through and made sure that there weren't any spelling mistakes in this before posting this for you. I wanted to give a quick shout out to the following people; Soufull, McShanna, ALICEBRODA, Seasidesimone, Alwaysoutofcharacter, BlueRose22, DIARYofJANEwhite, Fantasyrulez97 for Favourite-ing, Story Alert-ing and Reveiwing! You guys have all made my week!**

**Also I just wanted to give an extra shout out to FantasyRulez97 for the awesome conversation that I had with you the other day XD I just wanted to let you know that I had a very strange dream from the talk we had about who would be better for Rose and that I dreamt that Sev was "transfigured" to look like Remus in it. I guess I better start taking Divination to get to the bottom of what that dream meant lol XD**

**Anyways I hope you guys enjoy this! And we get to see a bit more of Remus's character and we are introduced to Bellatrix, Narcissa and Lucius this chapter! I hope you guys Enjoy and please remember to review! I will post the beta-ed version for this chapter once my Beta actually gets back to me lol.**

**A/N2: (30.11.11) Thank you to Mystery Tears that went over this and helped me correct all the errors. Best Beta Ever!**

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><p>Chapter 9 – Taking Chances<p>

Rose kept her head down. Dinner had been uneventful but it had been good nonetheless, as she had been with her friends, enjoying their company and the good food that had been prepared for them but now she was in the library trying to catch up on the past three day's load of homework and class work that she had missed.

She had had to escape all of her friends to be able to catch up on the work that she had asked her Professors for. It was as she was trying to tie up an essay about the difference of truth serums and how they could be applied in the wizarding world to give her defence for both positive and negative uses of "said truth serums" from Professor Slughorn that she realized that she was being watched. Rose finished writing the conclusion for her essay and placed her quill down before casting a drying spell on her essay and then rolling up the piece of parchment that she had used.

As her mind was relaxing off of the essay she sensed the thoughts of the person observing her. Rose looked up then and was pleasantly surprised to see Remus at a bookcase right across from the study area she was in, sneaking looks in her direction. Rose let down her walls, happy that they were the only ones in the room at that moment and reached out for his mind.

She let out a laugh when Remus jumped from the unexpected mental contact and she smiled brightly when he turned around and made his way over to her.

"Hello Stranger," She teased and Remus relaxed instantly at her teasing tone. "You know you don't have to spy on me to get my attention," She said seriously and then mentally added to herself, _you already have my full attention_.

"So is there something that you wanted to talk about?" Rose asked, as she flicked her wand to put her things away. Her belongings quickly went into her bag as Rose trained her eyes on Remus, waiting for his response as he captured her whole attention.

"No, nothing important at least, I just wanted to talk to you, get to know you better you know." Remus said giving a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.

"Have you heard of the muggle game 'twenty questions'?" Remus asked, a lazy lopsided smile spreading out on his lips.

"Yes, a lot of the other students at W.I.C.C.A used to play it. The gist of it is that you ask me a question, I answer it as honestly as I can and then I ask you a question and you answer it as honestly as you can and so forth, right?" Rose asked; yes she was a Half-blood and although she had been close with her muggle father she didn't know a lot of muggle games.

"Yea that's basically it. So I'll go first, what's your favourite colour and why?" Remus asked his smile reaching his eyes as it grew on his face. He knew – by her reaction – that she hadn't been expecting that as his first question.

"Really that's your first question?" Rose asked, having expected another question about her old school and/or about werewolves. Remus simply shrugged his shoulders and Rose let out a sigh before answering his question. "My favourite colour is midnight blue, and it's my favourite because it reminds me of the night sky on a full moon." Rose gave a soft laugh at the look on Remus' face. She could tell that he hadn't really been expecting that. "Alright my turn, what's your favourite colour and why?"

"My favourite colour use to be Persian red but I think I'm starting to like forest green even better." Remus said, instinctively reaching out to brush a strand of hair behind Rose's left ear. Rose blushed furiously knowing the reason behind his change in colour preference. After a moment Remus' hand fell back to his side and he cleared his throat in an attempt to clear the tension that he had caused.

"What's your favourite book and why?" He asked and Rose's attention was brought back to the little game that they were playing.

"My favourite book is the muggle story "Beauty and the Beast". It's my favourite because it was the first muggle story that my father read to me, and because of the context of the story. That even in the worst of people there is always beauty underneath." Rose replied truthfully, the memories of her father tucking her in and reading her the story came swarming back to her.

"What's your favourite book and why?" Rose asked and it was a while before Remus' answer came. "My favourite book would have to be either "The Count of Monte Cristo" or "The Picture of Dorian Grey", I don't know why they're my favourites I just can't seem to put them down once I've picked them up." Remus replied honestly.

"What do your mum and dad do for a living?" Remus asked and then wanted to instantly take back the question when he saw her visibly flinch. "I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to," he said instantly trying to take back his question though she shook away his apology.

"No it's okay Remus. My father was a mortician before my mother killed him, and well I don't know what my mother does now, she used to just sit around the home when I lived with her before my father's death and now she's a Death Eater, one of you-know-who's followers. She murdered my father to get into the inner circle." Rose replied solemnly. Remus' hand reached between them for hers, and he slowly rubbed circles into her hand with the pad of his thumb.

"What do your parent's do?" Rose asked as she watched his thumb slowly rub circles into the front of her hand.

"My mum works as a wizarding event planner and my father is a labourer. They don't own much but we are happy which is the main thing." Remus replied, wishing that she'd look up and met his gaze.

"So if you don't live with your parents anymore, where do you live?" Remus asked trying to steer the girl's thoughts away from the thought of her parents.

"I live with my Grandmother, Aurora Lucinda Adams." Rose replied glancing up to meet his gaze – which she had felt over her for the past few minutes.

"You mean the Aurora that can supposedly talk to the dead, not like in ghost dead but actual dead people?" Remus asked, Rose simply nodded her head at his unintentional question. "Wow, your family is just filled with the extraordinary."

"Being extraordinary is a curse Remus, and normality is wasted on the ignorant." Rose simply stated.

"I'm closing up now dears, you better hurry along." Madame Pince said and Rose was surprised that it had already gotten this late.

"Come on we'll talk more on the way back." Remus said standing up after Madam Pince had gone. Rose got up as well and they made their way out of the library in silence.

"Do you have any siblings?" Rose asked but Remus simply shook his head, "No I was my parent's miracle baby, they had been told that they would never have children and then my mother got pregnant with me and well yea, I was their only child. Mum regrets that she could never have had a daughter but my father was overjoyed to have a son." Remus replied chuckling slightly as they started making their way up the stairs.

"What is your most embarrassing moment?" Remus asked, looking across at Rose who let out a laugh full of mirth.

"That would have to be the one time I walked in on my parent's having sex, I was about eight years old and I had wanted to ask my dad a question and when I had found them they were naked, of course at that age I had no idea what they were doing but it looked very awkward to me at the time and it's just simply embarrassing." Rose replied giving a little shiver at the awkward memory, and she heard Remus laugh, it was melodic in his deep raspy voice and it made Rose laugh again.

"And what is your most embarrassing moment?" Rose asked the boy beside her. Remus laughed again and it made Rose all the more curious as to what the memory was.

"The time that Sirius kissed me in front of all of Gryffindor. We were celebrating another victory with our Quidditch team and Sirius, James and I plus the Quidditch team and another couple of people including Lily, Alice, Mary and Frank were playing spin the bottle for a bit of fun and when Sirius took his turn to spin the bottle it landed on me, and of course I protested furiously to kissing my best mate but Sirius did it anyways, the worse part of it was that it was my first kiss so not only was it mortifying but it was also very awkward." Remus replied and Rose laugh at the imagery that filled her mind.

They continued making their way up to the Gryffindor common room on the seventh floor in silence. Remus had so many questions that he wanted to ask the girl, _Do you have a boyfriend? Have you ever had a boyfriend? When was your first kiss? _Being amongst them but he couldn't ask her any of those questions. He had known ever since he had been turned into a werewolf that he could never have a girlfriend, never share a kiss, or be intimate with a girl, be close to anyone, in fact, without them knowing of his secret. It wasn't that his secret was a necessary fact that had to be known between himself and someone else, it was the fact that not only did he think it wasn't fair for the other to not know but also because he _wanted_ there to be no secrets between himself and his other half. He wasn't a man who had been made to keep secrets although he knew that he had to keep this one, or nobody would look at him the same well nobody but his best mates who had known ever since his first few transformations at Hogwarts.

They were quickly approaching the Gryffindor tower and Remus spluttered out "When was your first kiss?" He instantly regretted the loss of control that he had over his mouth.

Rose looked at Remus surprised not only had he broken the silence but also because he had broken the silence to ask her when her first kiss had been. Was it obvious to him that she hadn't ever been kissed? "Oh! I haven't been kissed by anyone before, well other than my father but that doesn't really count." She told him, the words rushing to get out of her mouth and she kept her eyes on his face trying to gauge his reaction – which was one of surprise; he must have thought that she had been kissed by a million guys.

Remus was surprised by the reply that he wanted to give, especially since it wasn't a very polite thing to say in front of a lady but all he asked is "Why not?" as his eyes shot up to meet hers.

"I don't know, I guess I just never found the right guy that I wanted to share that first moment with." Rose replies, their eyes continue to remain locked to each other's and it seems to Remus as if her eyes are searching for something within his.

Unconsciously Remus leaned in towards Rose. She wanted to kiss him, wanted to get to know him on that level but she knew that she couldn't, knew that even if they both wanted a relationship they were barely friends, that they barely knew each other and that it wasn't the right time, even if he may be the right guy to share a kiss with, to share this moment with each other.

"I'm sorry Remus," Rose said before quickly pulling away and she watched as Remus's eyes blinked a few times as if he was returning to the world of the living. Rose quickly walked away before she could see his emotions on his face and made her way into the common room, up the stairs and she didn't stop until she was in her bed, the curtains drawn and her face nuzzled into her plush pillow that she realized that Remus was the type of guy that she could fall for.

Rose woke up early again, she could tell that the sun had barely even risen by the faint ethereal glow that flitted into the window. Rose got up and prepared to go for her usual early morning run. She slipped on a pair of track pants, and a sports bra plus a loose fitting singlet and her sneakers and socks. She tied her hair back into a tight ponytail and made her way down stairs.

Rose soaked up the cool morning sunlight, her hair swaying as she ran her new route through the trees spread out on the Hogwarts grounds and she made her way over to the final destination in her run, the boat house and the beautiful sea green lake that spread over the land as a crystal-clear glassy liquid pool, surrounded by mountains towering over the landscape. And then her eyes darted to the raven-haired boy with his feet dipped into the very same lake she had just been admiring.

"Hello Severus," Rose said as sat down next to the boy, his same scornful and then delighted look passing over his smooth yet sharp features.

"Hello Rose," Severus replied when he had finally gotten over the fact that he wasn't alone anymore, though, truth be told he had been out here waiting for her in the first place.

"Why are you up this early?" She asked him, curious as to why he was out here in the first place.

"I couldn't sleep," Severus replied honestly. His onyx eyes shot from the ethereal scene before them to the ethereal girl sitting next to him.

"I'm sorry about what happened yesterday," Rose said softly as her eyes met his. Severus could see the honesty in her eyes and his hand reached between them for hers giving it a soft squeeze before letting it go. "It's okay Rose,"

"I love watching the sun rise, especially after a full moon. Watching the sun rise is a reminder that the horrors of the night is over and that it's a new day," Rose whispered softly remembering all the times she'd watch the sun rise – especially on a full moon when Coxly and his pack would meet up with her to watch the sun rise together.

"It's peaceful," Severus agreed softly. They continued to watch the sun rise, when it was getting close to seven Rose stood up.

"I've got to go and get change, I'll see you later?" Rose asked Severus and he shot her a wicked grin.

"Of course, I'll see you later." Severus replied, excited at the prospect of seeing the girl again. Rose walked away and made her way back to the castle, feeling Severus' eyes on her the whole way there. She rushed up to her dorm room in Gryffindor tower and quickly dressed herself after casting a quick cleaning charm over herself before making her way back down stairs for the rest of her classes that day.

Rose had been, in a way, avoiding a confrontation with Remus. She hadn't saved him a seat in class, she hadn't waited for him at breakfast but she knew that it was inevitable in the end, that plus the fact that she didn't want him to think that she hated him.

Rose had just evaded Remus again, and now she was running down the hallways and making her way to the great hall to pick something up to eat. She could hear footsteps slapping against the ground, almost matching her own as they came closer and closer towards her. She could feel a hand wrapping itself around her upper arm and just as quickly as the hand had found her she was being pulled into a dimly lit corridor, void of people except for herself and whoever was pulling her along.

The guy that had grabbed onto her pushed her up against the wall, and quickly pinned her to it with his own body, it wasn't until his face was inches from hers that she realized that it wasn't just anybody, it was Remus, and with this realization in her mind she also realized the reaction her body was already having towards him.

"I'm sorry for being so forward Rose but you've been avoiding me like the plague," Remus apologized, he could feel the heat of her body as he pressed it against the walls with his and he blushed deeply at the reaction of her _closeness_ caused to his body.

Rose lowered her eyes as she ducked her head slightly, she couldn't stand to see the hurting in his eyes, the hurt that she knew she had caused on him. "It's alright Remus, I… I just overreacted, forgive me?" Rose asked she refused to look up into his eyes but she couldn't help herself when his strong fingers wrapped around her chin and gently pulled her head up so that she would look at him.

"As long as you forgive me," Remus replied; there was a twinkle deep in his amber eyes and Rose couldn't do anything but smile and simply whisper "I forgive you." Remus backed off of Rose then, he was smiling now too.

There wasn't much said between the two as they made their way down to the Great Hall for lunch, the rest of their group was chatting away furiously, and James smiled his lopsided smile when she and Remus sat down together and Rose fell into an easy conversation with the rest of the group.

"Professor McGonagall asked me to get a group of students together to plan the Halloween Ball this year, are you in Rose?" Lily asked from across the table; to be quiet frank Rose was surprised that Lily had asked her but she shot the fiery red-head a grin. "Yea of course Lils; who else were you thinking of?"

Lily let out a squeal at her agreement to help and started gushing as she rattled off the names of her other helpers so far. "Oh Alice and Mary are going to help, and I was thinking of Andromeda Black, Gildory Lockheart, and Emma Vance from the Ravenclaw bunch, Susan Bones, Ludo Bagman and Rita Skeeter from the Hufflepuff bunch and Narcissa Black and Bellatrix Black from the Slytherin's. I know you don't like your cousins Sirius but you have to admit that they do know how to throw a party and with people from all houses it makes it a bit more fair, don't you think Rose?" Rose could tell that Lily was trying to please everybody but she had to agree with the fact that if opinions and votes came from all the houses nobody would be able to complain.

"Yea sounds great; do you want any help with getting them to help out?" Rose replied; she could see that Lily was virtually on the point that her excitement would cause her to start bouncing uncontrollably in her seat.

"I would love it if you could talk to Narcissa and Bellatrix for me, I'm not very popular with the Slytherin's you see, for the most part because of the fact that I'm muggle born." Lily said nonchalantly the words almost blurring as they escaped her mouth but Rose could see the hurt in her eyes, and feel it coming off of her in waves. "But just steer clear of Severus Snape, he's trouble." Lily said quiet clearly even though the waves coming off of her had intensified.

"He's not as bad as all of you make him out to be, but sure I'll talk to them for you Lils." Rose said scooping up some of her shepherd's pie and taking a bite. They continued to talk about classes and their plans for the weekend, James and Sirius also struck up a conversation on Quidditch.

"I can't wait to get started on this," Lily said and there was a mutual agreement amongst the girls. They discussed plans for the big Halloween party, of costumes and decorations. It wasn't until the bell rung that all of them dropped their conversations and started making their way out of the great hall.

"Make sure you remember to ask them," Lily said as they parted ways. Rose promised to ask them when she could but honestly she didn't even know how to bring up such a conversation with two students that she didn't even know, let alone two _Slytherin _students she didn't even know.

Rose spent Ancient Runes and Arithamancy in a quiet, studious mood, although from time to time she allowed her mind to wander from the task at hand to the conversation she had started to dread with the Slytherin's.

Rose made her way down to the Potions classroom in a stupor; it wasn't until she was sprawled on the ground after she had collided with a solid but soft body that she was pulled out of her stupor.

"Watch where you're going Gryffindor." The very feminine voice sneered; Rose ignored the sneer on the raven-haired girl and offered her hand to the other girl once Rose was standing on her own two feet.

"I'm Rose Ashmore and you are?" Rose asked simply waiting for the other girl to give Rose her name.

"I'm Bellatrix Black," Bellatrix replied eyeing the hand that Rose was still offering to the raven-haired girl. A blonde girl with the same petite nose and high cheekbones walked up to the two girls.

"Hello I'm Narcissa Black; I see you've met my sister." The blonde girl said; Rose was surprised by this, as they didn't look very alike except for their same aristocratic petite noses.

"I'm Rose Ashmore," Rose said to Narcissa and then continued, "I'm sorry for running into you like that Bellatrix, I wasn't watching where I was going. Listen I wanted to talk to you about joining the Halloween Ball Committee, I hear that the two of you are great with throwing a party and thought that it would be good to have some Slytherin opinions seeing that we have the opinions of the other houses as well. I completely understand if you don't want to or if you're too busy." Bellatrix scoffed at this and Rose raised an eyebrow incredulously at the raven-haired girl.

"That's rich a Gryffindor being _generous,_" Bellatrix sneered, Narcissa motioned for her sister to hush.

"We'll consider your offer. We'll let you know before Monday." Narcissa said and then turned to walk away but stopped before she actually did. "You said your last name was Ashmore right?" The blonde girl asked; Rose simply nodded her head in reply.

"Yea I did, why?" Rose asked, eyeing the girl's look suspiciously.

"As in Kayley – The Black Widow - Ashmore?" Narcissa asked, knowing that she heard the name Ashmore before, and from Lucius no less.

"Yea she's my mother," Rose replied, she wanted to laugh at the "title" her mother had claimed for herself.

"We'll that's convenient. I think this may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship Rose," Narcissa said giving the girl a wicked smile before turning around and walking away going back to the Slytherin Common room.

Rose simply shook her head as she watched the Black sisters walk away. She made her way into the potions room and took her seat in the front row and waited for her Slytherin friend to join her as her thoughts turned dark, as her mother "The Black Widow" entered into them.

"Hello, Darling" Narcissa said as she joined Lucius on the couch placing a quick kiss on his lips.

"Hello to you too," Lucius replied, smiling wickedly as he stole another kiss from his girlfriend.

"You'll never believe who I just met." Narcissa exclaimed and when Lucius made no conscious move to guess she continued, "I just met Rose Ashmore, as in Kayley – the Black Widow – Ashmore's daughter." Narcissa gave a jubilant laugh.

"Really the new girl is the Black Widows daughter?" Lucius asked giving his girlfriend an incredulous look.

"The one and only. She ran into Bella and then asked the two of us to join a Halloween Ball committee. She was just adorable, and very unlike any Gryffindor I've ever known." Narcissa said relaying her thoughts onto the man that she loves.

"Perhaps she is more Slytherin than Gryffindor, we'll just have to wait and find out but for now, I have a better idea to fill our time with," Lucius gave Narcissa a wicked smile before attacking her mouth with his and pushing her down onto the couch that they were sitting on. The couple embraced, their fevered kisses chasing away thoughts of the Black Widow and her Daughter; Rose Ashmore.

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><p><strong>AN: This week's title is from a song lyrics if you can guess what the song is called, who it's by and where it's from (hint: I listen to GLEE) then you will get an extra long preview (remember reviews are nessecary for you to tell me what your guesses are) if you just review without guessing then you still get a review. Can't wait to see what you guys thought of this week's chapter! Thank you all for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10: Truth Be Told

**A/N: Again I beg your forgiveness as this is quiet RAW and UNBETA-ED! My Beta still hasn't gotten in contact with me for a while now so I think the next couple of chapters will be UNBETA-ED until my beta does actually get into contact with me. This is part of what I had planned for this chapter but once I realize that it was bordering unto 8/9 pages I decided to pull it to a stop at where I did and I hope that you don't hate me for cutting it there. I WILL be posting up the next chapter earlier this week as well as another one on saturday; or at least that is the plan. Remember for the past part I am trying to keep this as closly as possible to cannon - so Severus is in love with Lily, and Lily is finding it hard to forgive Severus for calling her the 'M' word - and I will continue to keep it as close to cannon as possible through the rest of the book! Please enjoy and don't hate me for putting the characters through these tough situations; FACING THEIR FEELINGS! hehehe okay I'll stop blubbering now and let you read! Enjoy!**

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><p>Chapter 10 – Truth be Told<p>

Rose found herself making her way towards the library again after having dinner with her friends. She knew that she had work to do, homework that she had to catch up on since her little 'fainting' accident. She knew that she had to do these things but she couldn't focus, couldn't control her mind; nor the thoughts threatening to break down her walls.

Rose walked in a daze from the great hall to the library; as she tried to keep the thoughts swarming around her mind out of her head. It was as she was entering into the library's study area that she saw the raven haired boy sitting at a table in the far corner against the wall; his back turned to her and the rest of the world as if he was trying to escape it and knowing Severus, he probably was.

Rose made her way over to Severus's table and sat down across from him, dropping her book bag as she did. Severus's look of scorn quickly surpassed by joy did not escape her and Rose felt herself smiling at the fact that Severus was happy to see her again.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. I told you, you'd be seeing me later." Rose said smirking slightly at his incredulous look. Severus smirked slightly too, remembering that she did, in fact say as much when they were talking earlier that morning.

"So you did." Severus replied softly, his thoughts straying from the transfiguration essay he had been trying to complete to the girl sitting in front of him.

"So what are you up to?" Rose asked wondering what Severus was doing alone in the library in the first place.

"Trying to avoid the world; do you know of Lily Evans?" Severus asked, his onyx eyes smouldering with pain as his voice cracked over the red-headed girl's name.

Rose knew that this wasn't a time to tease Severus but she couldn't help it. "Seeing as that I share a bedroom with her, I'd say yes I know Lily Evans." Rose replied. Severus' smile at Rose's teased last for all of thirty seconds before it vanished again.

"We used to be best friends up until last year. I said something horrible to her, something that she couldn't forgive me for. And not only won't she recognize my existence, she plays tonsil hockey with Potter but I think I may be in love with her." Severus replied his voice cracking, a small sob barely escaping from his quivering lips. Rose could see the agony etched into every line of his face, and when he finally looked up she could see the pain smouldering in his eyes.

"Am I wrong to hate him, to want her? Am I wrong to love the only person that has _ever_ cared for me?" Severus asked seeking comfort in his new friend. Rose didn't know what to say, didn't know how to react to Severus's revelation but she knew that he was dying for anyone's comfort, for anyone to understand and Rose suddenly realized that Severus needed her to be that person.

Rose instantly reached out for his hand, holding it in his and making him look up into her eyes, making sure that she had his whole attention. "Severus, it's not a crime to love anyone nor to hate anyone. I understand why you hate James, and even though I don't know Lily that well I can understand your love for her as well. What I can't understand is _why_ you're punishing yourself for feeling? Feeling is what makes us human, if we didn't feel we wouldn't be any better than you-know-who." Rose said, trying to comfort Severus. She could see the flash of understanding in his intelligent eyes even though the pained look didn't leave them.

"You're probably right Rose but that doesn't change the fact that Lily is with fucking perfect Potter," Severus sneered the fire rekindling in his eyes. Rose let out a laugh; Severus had no idea if he thought Potter was perfect.

"Let me tell you something about James Potter; but you can't tell anyone." Rose said her eyes flashing with mirth; she didn't mind taking James down a few notches if she could cheer Severus up. Severus was reluctant, he was positive that whatever Rose had to say about Potter would be worth sharing with his Slytherin friends but he reluctantly agreed not to tell anyone.

"Excellent; well first James used to wet the bed until he was eight and a half years old." Rose said snickering slightly; she could see the disbelief in Severus's eyes. "I can show you the evidence that I used to find if you like," Rose said starting to pull off one of her gloves so Severus knew what she meant. Severus smirked slightly and Rose took this as confirmation that he wanted to see the memory, so Rose pulled off the glove that she had started to pull off and placed her hand on the table - palm up – reaching across the expanse for Severus's hand.

Severus quickly held Rose's hand, gently caressing it as Rose drew them into the memory. _Eight-year-old Rose looked out of her bedroom window, she could see the white sheet's hanging on the Potter's line, including James's favourite pair of flannel pyjamas and she could hear Mr Potter talking to her father about James' unfortunate habit of wetting the bed. Rose looked at James and she could see his fair skin take on a reddish hue around his cheeks; the poor boy was blushing because they could both hear their parent's talking about "James's unfortunate habit"._

Severus was laughing once the memory had ended. He hadn't really been expecting her to listen to his problems, let alone try to comfort him but honestly he hadn't expected her to start telling mortifying fact's about bloody Potter. Rose smiled softly as she saw her friend's mirth – even though it was at James's expense – she softly rubbed her thumb into the back of Severus's hand, which he instantly froze at; Rose realized her mistake and tried to draw her hand away but Severus held on tighter to it.

"That's hilarious Rose." Severus smiled softly but then his smile vanished and Rose could sense that something wasn't quite right through his body language alone, without the added addition of his thoughts swirling around her.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked, trying to bring Severus back to the present she rubbed another circle into the back of his hand with her thumb. At her movement his onyx eyes refocused onto her and she could see his emotions – if not read them – deep in his eyes.

"You need to be careful Rose; I heard Narcissa Black and Lucius Malfoy and a couple known wannabe death eaters talking about you earlier on. They think that you would be use full for you-know-who and the death eaters. Just promise me that you'll be careful around them," Severus pleaded, his onyx eyes matching the tone in his voice. Rose could see the concern in her friend's eyes now and she smiled softly towards the boy.

"Of course I'll be careful." Rose reassured him but she knew that if Narcissa was going to accept her offer to 'help out' with planning the Halloween Ball that she wouldn't be able to avoid the girl – nor her sister - completely.

Severus and Rose continue to study in silence until Madame Pince came around reminding them that she was about to close the library and that they ought to leave. The Slytherin and the Gryffindor made their way out of the library in companionable silence and it wasn't until they reached the stairs that they paused.

"Goodnight Severus," Rose said before the raven haired boy could escape to the dungeons below. Severus picked up Rose's gloved hand - the same one that he had been holding earlier – and in an unusual act of being a gentleman kissed the girls hand, his eyes stayed locked with hers as he pulled her hand towards his mouth.

"Goodnight Rose," Severus replied as he let go of her gloved hand before making his way back down stairs towards the Slytherin common room in the dungeons.

Rose quickly found herself in the corridor that leads up to the Gryffindor tower. She could see a familiar figure outside of the portrait and she hoped that it wasn't anyone she knew particularly well; but knowing her luck it probably was. As she drew nearer she could see his light brown hair and when he sensed her approach she could see his amber eyes flashing dangerously; in this light – and with the full moon a night away; tomorrow night in fact – he looked incredibly dangerous. Not that Remus being a werewolf was a possibility. No, he was too good, too kind to be anything like all the werewolf prats she knew but Rose had learned to be suspicious of all 'supernatural' through her years at W.I.C.C.A and it was obviously still an embedded habit deep within her mind; a habit that needed to be pruned out of her being.

"Hello Remus," Rose said politely though she could hear the cautionary tone her voice held; she only hoped that he couldn't hear it too. She didn't want him to think that she was afraid of him.

"I've looked all over the castle for you. From the top of the astronomy tower right down to the dungeons. Where were you?" Remus asked his eyes flashing dangerously again; his voice didn't rise or fall, it stayed steady but she could hear the accusing tone in his voice and even deeper behind it his concern for her as well.

"I was at the library," Rose confessed, though if Remus knew her like James did then he would haven known to look in the library first and foremost before he started looking anywhere else!

"That was the first place that I looked," Remus confessed his eyes softening for a moment before hardening again. "But you weren't there. So where were you?" Remus asked again. Rose almost let out a bark of laughter; of course Severus would have disillusioned them and put up a silencing charm before he divulged any of his feelings. Rose of course couldn't say this; she had a feeling that Remus would have been insanely jealous if he knew whom exactly had been her company tonight.

"I placed a disillusion charm over myself as well as a silencing and blocking charm. I wanted to catch up on the work that I've been behind on and I knew if anyone were to find me that I wouldn't be able to study. I'm sorry if I caused you any inconvenience." Rose confessed, it had been her plan for the night anyways before she had found Severus in the sorry state that he had been in.

"Oh," Remus said; there wasn't really that much for him _to_ say but he was now feeling incredibly foolish for thinking that Rose was either in danger or planning – with the enemy – on putting his friends in danger.

It was a moment or two before any of them made a move. However it was Remus that moved first by making his way back inside where he knew his brothers – the other Marauders – were waiting for them.

Rose could see that James and Sirius were already deep in a game of wizard's chess in front of the fire, Peter Pettigrew and Mary sitting on the sidelines – again on the floor – watching the two boy's - who were like brothers – duelling each other in their friendly game. Lily was on one end of the couch and Alice and Frank were squished into one of the arm chairs, the two girls gossiping about some new trend displayed in the magazine in Alice's lap; Frank trying to stay out of the conversation as best as he could. Rose took the seat next to Lily and Remus the one beside her. Sirius and James looked up from their game to see who had come into the room and shot Remus a look that literally said 'well-make-a-move-she's-sitting-right-beside-you' which Rose completely missed although she could feel the direction their thoughts had turned even if she wasn't trying to hear them.

Rose spent the next half an hour simply enjoying the company of her friends, listening to Lily, Mary's and Alice's fashion trend gossiping, Sirius's and James easy banter over their game of wizard's chess and Frank and Remus's commentary not only on the two other boy's moves but on their banter as well. She could see that Peter was feeling left out but she didn't move to comfort the boy, she didn't know what was putting him out either but what really gave her pause was the dark feeling that surrounded the boy's thoughts, not darkness that was more so sadness but the darkness that she used to feel surrounding her mother's thoughts and this troubled Rose.

When she sensed that the three girl's discussion on witches fashion Rose finally spoke up, penetrating her silence for the almost full hour that had just passed. "I just wanted to let you know Lil's that I talked to the Black sisters, literally had a run in with them, and they said that they'd consider our proposal." Rose said sitting up straight and turning towards the red-head that she was speaking to. Lily gave out a squeal of excitement. She couldn't believe that they were actually considering helping the committee out. Lily knew that if she had asked them that not only would have refused profoundly but they would also call her that horrible name that _all_ Slytherin's applied to muggleborns. Lily let out a frustrated sigh, she hated it when her thoughts slinked back to Sev, no he was no longer Sev, she couldn't think of him as 'Sev' anymore; He was Severus _fucking_ Snape now, he had broken her trust, _their_ friendship and all because he had called her that bloody word. He had called her a 'mudblood' – she shivered just thinking it – and it had broken her heart to hear her _best-friend _call her that god-awful name. He was just another Slytherin like all the rest of them, and she could no longer see him as 'Sev' anymore.

Rose looked over to Lily who had gone from excited to miserable in all three seconds flat. Rose was almost positive that she was thinking of Severus and when Rose quickly prodded Lily's mind she found that she was right. "Lily, are you alright?" Rose asked seeing the distress on her friend's face. Lily was brought back to reality when Rose spoke to her and she smiled softly at Rose.

"I'm fine," Lily lied and Rose could tell her lie from her thoughts. "Just thinking about all the homework that the professors have given us," Lily replied, trying to brush Rose's concern off.

"So have you decided on what the theme for the ball is going to be?" Rose asked, Lily almost visibly brightened at the mention of the ball and she went off prattling about all the ideas that she had come up with.

"Well I like the idea of either a Masquerade ball or we could dress up in costumes that 'came to life' or it could just be a non-costume thing, you know like a formal attire with dresses and dress robes for the guys. So what do you think?" Lily said looking from Rose to Alice, and from Alice to Mary, wanting the opinions of her new best-friends (although Lily had been friends with Alice and Mary ever since she came to Hogwarts).

"Well I like the Masquerade idea Lils," Rose said, Mary and Alice gave her dubious looks before Mary spoke up. "Well I like the costumes coming to life idea, I mean we could dress like a fairy and fly without a broom or we could dress up like a vampire and have real fangs, or we could dress up like a ghost and well turn into a ghost."

"Well I just like the idea of wearing a nice dress," Alice said in her soft voice, Frank giving her a loving kiss on the check.

"Well I like the idea of a Masquerade best; it's romantic and you never knew who's behind what mask! But I guess we'll have to have a vote with the rest of the committee." Lily said before standing up and yawning loudly, her dainty hand coming up to cover up her mouth.

"Well I'm going to go to bed, I'm exhausted." Lily said before saying goodnight to everyone. Rose followed quickly behind Lily knowing that she wanted to talk to her about Severus before she actually went to sleep. Rose knew that Lily was aware of her presence, aware that Rose was following her but Rose waited until they were both in their dorm room until she popped the question to Lily.

"Lily can I ask you something?" Rose asked once she had sent a silent silencing and locking charm towards the door. Lily looked neverous for a second before placing a smile back onto her plush lips.

"Sure Rose, what's up?" Lily asked sitting down on her bed. Rose made her way over to her bed as well before sitting down on it.

"I was talking to Severus tonight and he told me that he said something unforgivable to you. He was really upset about it but he wouldn't tell me what happened. I was wondering if you could tell me what happen," Rose said softly not in an abusing tone but one that soothed Lily as much as it was questioning.

"I suppose so, but you can't tell anybody what I'm about to tell you," Lily replied her voice faltering even in her soft whispering tone. Lily's green eyes flashed with hue and worry but Rose quickly assured her with a smirk on her face that she could keep a secret.

"Well you see it was just as we were finishing our last O.W.L exam, I was probably the few last one's out of the great hall - that was where we had the exam you see - and I had watched Severus try to get out of their as quickly as he could, the Marauders weren't that far ahead of him and I knew that if they saw him there would be trouble for Severus," Lily explained taking a deep breath before continuing "So I followed them but I was too late! By the time that I got there Severus was hanging upside down his robes hanging around his head, screaming ad swearing at James to put him down, Sirius and Peter hanging around I could see Remus a fair bit off not wanting to get caught in the mess of things but too cowardly to stand up to his friends but that didn't bother me, it was the smirk on James's face as if he was enjoying Severus's torture that really set me off. So I was yelling and swearing at James as well; I asked James, out of frustration, why he always picked on Severus and he told me that it was simply because 'he existed'. I tried to tell James to stop and Severus, I still can't believe that he said it; he said 'I don't need help from a filthy mudblood'. He called me a mudblood Rose, the worse name that you can call a 'muggleborns'. So you see I can't forgive him, Rose." Lily's story was over and Rose felt worse than ever, she could see the memory playing over in Lily's minds and it was so strong that Rose could see it in her own mind. Rose didn't know what to say, she had nothing to say in Severus's defence, and she had no words of comfort for Lily who was clearly still hurting over the betrayal.

"I'm sorry Lily," was all that Rose could say. Her eyes met Lily's in the small distance between them.

"It's quiet alright Rose, I know that he didn't mean it, I just can't forgive him, he's simply not the boy that I use to know. I'm going to go to sleep, I'm exhausted," Lily said softly turning away from Rose and hiding underneath her blankets. Rose remembered to un-do the spells she had placed on the room before laying down underneath her own blankets, the crimson and gold curtain shut tightly but Rose couldn't sleep, it avoiding her unlike anything she'd ever know, feeling sorry for Severus and Lily; the couple that never was and would never be.

Rose feel asleep her mind on her own troubles, her mother, Remus, Severus and the mysterious raven haired man of her dreams and the snake like man that tortured her in her own dreams; Rose feel asleep with one word on her lips, a word that couldn't escape her "Love," the greatest weapon of them all.

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><p><strong>AN2: Last week's title was taken from "Taking Chances" the Glee Cover of the Celien Dion song by the same title. I had intionally intended to call this chapter either "Lily's Worse Memory" or "Their Pain" but both seem to be focusing on one point rather than the whole "idea" for this chapter. Please remember to review guys if you liked this chapter and I apologize for not sending out previews this week, I spent all of today writing this chapter as I have been focusing on NaNoWriMo all week (something I am considering pulling out of to keep my comitment to you guys and this novel). So please leave me some reviews to let me know how much you guys love/hate this story and just to make my day ^.^ Until next time my fellow potterheads!**


	11. Chapter 11: Angel's Should Never Fall

**A/N: Again I apologized that this hasn't been Beta-ed as my Beta is still missing. I apologize as well for the fact that I was not able to get a second chapter up this week (as I had promised) this is due to the fact that I had a job interview earlier on this week, and I came down with a cold on Thursday. I hope you like this chapter, still got more coming but I hope you enjoy it! And a shout-out to MysteryTears for inspiring me with the Death Eater Wannabes confrontation with Rose! I'll talk with you guys at the bottom!**

_**A/N2: Thanks to MysteryTears for pointing out the fact that I needed to go over this. I'm sorry to those of you who noticed the mistakes, I haven't been feeling well up till now and I wanted to get the chapter to you as soon as I had posted it so that I could rest and get better. Hopefully I will have another chapter up earlier on this week, maybe even tonight or tomorrow as I will be going to the midnight premier of "Breaking Dawn" tomorrow and then on Saturday I have a twenty first to go to. So this week will be pretty busy for me and thus I will try to get the chapter out earlier than usual. **_

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><p>Chapter 11 – Angel's Should Never Fall<p>

Rose laughed maniacally, she was outside down in the shallow depths of the lake with James, Remus, Sirius, Peter, Lily, Mary, Alice and Frank splashing around in the cool liquid and having an over the top water fight, it was girls against guys; Peter was sitting on the shore underneath a tree cooling down and trying to catch his breath. They had literally run down to the lake after having breakfast already in their swimming wear. Rose was wearing a black and white polka-dot bikini underneath an overly large white t-shirt she had brought specifically for wearing over the top of her bikinis while she was living in America. The other girls were in similar swim wear, all of them in bikinis underneath their overly large tee-shirts. The boys were in boxers and shirts, Sirius and James however had chosen to take off their shirts once they were down at the lakes cool waters. It had taken almost all of the group's efforts to persuade James and Sirius to wear their shirts while they all had breakfast though they all knew that the shirts would have been dislodged from their bodies as soon as the lake was within the boy's sights.

However Rose's laughter was not simply of mirth, she was laughing maniacally because of the wide-eye, unblinking, jaw-slacked look that a completely drenched Sirius Black was shooting her way. She had just managed to enchant a large sum of water to rise out of the air – behind Sirius's back – and fall directly over the unsuspecting boy who had in fact been shooting an '_Aguamenti' _spell at Frank. Remus and James had been aware of what Rose was doing and so – in an attempt to aid her – were also distracting their best friend; However now with a drenched Sirius look at her in disbelief, Rose could not stop laughing.

"Okay, Okay! I'm calling time out." Rose said in between her laughter, as she clutched tightly onto her sides. Sirius shoot her a dirty look and she knew instantly that he was seething because she had just taken his chance away to get her back but she simply smiled brightly instead and looked directly at the seething boy. "Don't be so serious Sirius; you'll get your chance to get me back." Rose said bright and cheerily towards the boy and she laughed again as she heard him curse underneath his breath as she made her way over to where Peter was sitting. Rose laid out her beach towel; it had the symbol of a rising sun and a full moon, overlaid by the crossing of two wands - the symbol of W.I.C.C.A; her old school – before she sat down on it.

"Hey Peter, why aren't you joining in?" Rose asked the fairly chubby boy. It was true just from a look at him that he hadn't grown out of his baby fat but he seem a fairly nice boy; though Rose didn't know him that well and she strained to get the boy to give her at least some recognition.

"I will in a little bit." Peter replied before it was all silent between them. Rose watched on as her friends continued to play in the cool crystalline waters. Rose had slept in this morning which was not unusual as it was the weekend and she did not know if Severus had been down here this morning. Rose let out a sigh as she thought of Severus and of all of the pain that she knew he was suffering from. Lily had announced to all of them this morning that she had agreed to go to Hogsmead with James next week – their first weekend at Hogsmead for the year – and from all the cheers and congratulations – the congrats were mainly for James though – Rose knew that going to Hogsmead was a good thing.

After a little while of catching her breath – as she sat in the silence with Peter, a rather boring guy on closer inspection, clearly a 'groupie' to James and Sirius and even Remus – Rose got back up and joined in with the group again. Lunch was approaching and she wanted to get in a few good hours under the sun just enjoying time with her friends; friends that as she spent more time with them she knew that they were becoming exceptionally dear to her.

Rose looked across the room to the Slytherin table as she had felt a couple of sets of eyes on her and found that not only were Narcissa and Bellatrix staring at her and whispering amongst themselves but there was also a tall, pale blond boy with Narcissa his aristocratic nose shoved into the air but also a dark looking boy next to Bellatrix whose skin was a the type of tanned colour she should have gotten in America with dark absorbing eyes and a lip licking younger boy whose eyes though light in comparison to the boy sitting beside him his eyes were absorbing as well and once Rose looked at the four she couldn't look away. Rose was aware that others were looking as well, but the only other person she caught looking at her was Severus and even then he was not really look at her but glaring at the back of James's head as James was holding lily's hand who had chosen to sit beside him.

Rose knew that she would have to talk to him about it. Try again to comfort him or distract him long enough to make him forget; if only momentarily.

Rose looked down dejectedly and pushed the steamed vegetables around on her plate with her fork. When Rose looked up again her eyes connected with Remus's who shoot her a sheepish smile. Rose looked around for her pumpkin juice avoiding Remus's eyes again, she drained the glass slightly parched from their day in the sun and when she looked back up there was a twinkle deep in his eyes. Rose could feel an insistent knocking on her mind, and when she looked up again she could see Severus looking at her directly, a little crease in his forehead as he thought hard; Rose knew instantly that he was trying to communicate with her. Rose didn't want the thoughts of everyone else inside of her mind so she quietly excused herself from the great hall and once she was a fair distance away from the room she opened her mind and reached out for Severus.

_Severus?_ She asked her thought flying from her mind – Rose had sat down on the stairs leading down to the ground floor – and reaching out for Severus as she waited for his reply.

_Rose, I just wanted to see what you're doing tonight. _Severus replied, she could simply imagine his lips curling up into his trade mark smirk and Rose found herself smiling at empty air.

_I don't have any plans tonight. Did you want to do something?_ Rose asked she could feel his joy and excitement but could hear in his "inner voice" that he was trying to hide his emotions from her.

_Yea sure, that's if you're positive that you don't have anything to do. _Severus replied trying to sound nonchalant but on the inside he was having an over drive of positive emotions. Rose laughed out loud for a moment and she knew the sound reverberated to Severus in her mind.

_Yes I'm positive Sev; I'm out by the stairs. _Rose told him before closing the connection off and as she waited for him she reached out to James. She could imagine the little crease on his forehead as they communicated and Rose gave off another laugh.

_Just thought I'd let you know James to contact me if you need me. I'm going to hang out with a friend for a bit, _Rose said letting James know that she won't be in the common room, to contact her – through their minds – if there was an emergency and to otherwise leave her be. She knew that he would catch onto the underlining of her thought out words because let's face it James Potter was not completely oblivious. Rose didn't wait for James's reply but quickly shut down the connection as she heard footsteps approaching her.

Rose looked up expecting to see Severus instead she saw the group of Death Eater wannabe's standing above her. The tall, pall blond boy – most of the student body knew him as Lucius Malfoy – towering over her, his arms crossed over his chest and a permanent scowl on his lips. Narcissa and Bellatrix Black were on either side of him and for a moment Rose thought that Lucius and Narcissa looked like the 'perfect' couple before she noticed tall, dark and absorbing and lip-licker as well as the 'scare-crow' boy – or as most of the Slytherin house knew him as Walden – Waldo - McNair – and two other boy's one really tall, the other really fat but both looking the part of the idiotic henchmen.

"Hello Miss Ashmore, as you're probably well aware I am Lucius Malfoy. My associates and I just wanted to have a word with you if you would kindly step aside with us." Lucius sneered, his aristocratic nose pointed high in the air as he looked down it at her. Rose stood up quickly on the step her feet had been resting on, she was standing at least three steps higher than Lucius and she was barely on eye level with him.

"And what if I don't want to step aside with you and your _associates_," Rose put as much venom into the word 'associate' as possible. She had the sense that these Death Eater Wannabe's were trouble but she wasn't going to just allow them to bully her around.

"Well then I would hate if that happened but I would have to resort to force," Lucius sneered again. He knew that anyone and everyone was underneath him, including _all_ of the Dark Lord's other followers. Lucius was the biggest supporter of his Lord's cause and if this girl had proven to be a Mudblood he would have been seen making her know her place in this terrifying and terrific world.

"Why exactly can't we have this little discussion out here?" Rose asked her lips curling up into a sneer to bet her mother's; she wasn't going to back down. Not to a cocky, arrogant, stuck up, aristocratic jerk like Malfoy.

"The halls of Hogwarts are not only filled with eyes and ears of flesh but of art as well," Lestrange replied stepping up beside Bellatrix. Rose chanced a quick look at the mysterious boy and she was reminded why she had looked away before. It was as if his eyes were trying to draw her in and completely absorb her into him. They weren't worried that other students would hear them but that the portraits of Hogwarts would.

Rose could sense someone approaching and she hoped against hope that it was Severus but Rose could not afford to reach out to him at that moment. She had – after all – Lucius almost a breath away from her. She had to only distract them for a minute more but who could she distract easily enough without getting the others angry. The fat duo, Lip-licker, or Scarecrow boy? All four of these boys made her shiver in repulsion. She could hear footsteps approaching and she stopped the squeal of joy escaping her when the wannabe Death Eaters turned around to see who was quickly approaching them. It seemed as if they all held their breath in anticipation for the on-comer.

Severus could hear a commotion up ahead. Lucius and his associates had left before Severus had the chance to and he hoped that they had not gone after Rose but knowing all the rotten luck that she had, that they most likely had left the great hall in search for her.

Severus urged his feet on faster. He knew by know that Lucius and his associates would have turned away from Rose, their whole attention on the "on-comer" being himself and that they were awaiting to see if it were friend or foe, but even though they automatically sorted Severus into the friend category - simply because he was a Slytherin - Severus had no intention of helping them hurt Rose. However Severus knew that he wouldn't win in a fight if there was more than two of them and Severus had seen the large group of eight leave together and there was no way for him to fight eight of them by himself. The only way Severus could save Rose was if he used his cunning and brains to overpower his housemates; it's a lucky thing he had plenty of both!

The footsteps were quickly approaching the corner and it felt as if the few seconds that it took for the on-comer to round the corner seemed as if they went on forever but at last the on-comer rounded the corner, at first it was a single black boot underneath the Hogwarts student trousers and then a leg, and then half of the body and a single strand of greasy black hair but it was enough for Rose to know that the man of the hour had arrived.

"Ah Severus, we were simply getting to know Miss Ashmore a little bit better. She's been very evasive of us since the start of the semester. Miss Ashmore I would like you to meet Severus Snape another associate of mine." Lucius sneered once Severus had finally turned the corner and was now standing beside Lucius. There was a dark look in Severus's onyx eyes, a look that clearly told Rose to keep quiet.

"She knows who I am Lucius. I've had a small discussion with her earlier on in the week. She has kindly agreed to meet with me tonight, so that I could continue to inform her of our alliances. By the end of tonight hopefully she will know the difference between right and wrong." Severus replied his voice cool and calculated but Rose could feel the tension tolling off of his body in waves, and his fear rolling between their minds like the soft lapping of water on the shore.

"I see," Lucius sneered, his grey eyes drifted to Rose for a moment and she refused to shiver in horror from the lustful look in his eyes before he walked away motioning for the others to follow him.

Severus didn't say anything as he pulled Rose up the staircases until they reached the top of one of the four towers of Hogwarts. Severus closed the door behind them and locked it before he walked over to Rose his large, man hands resting upon her shoulders squeezing lightly. "Are you okay?" Severus asked, his concern burning through his deep baritone voice and simmering deeply within his eyes.

"I'm fine Sev, just fine. Are you okay?" Rose asked her own concern obvious even though there was a slightly curve to the left-hand side of her lips.

"I'm fine, I was a bit worried that I was going to be too late but your fine, they didn't do anything." Severus said murmuring to himself moving away from Rose and towards the little balcony. Rose chuckled softly, Severus's behaviour was endearing and Rose was grateful that Severus was open and free with her rather than being closed off; like he was to the rest of the world. Rose slowly made her way over to Severus, who was resting his arms against the balcony ledge, his head in his hands.

"Let's just forget about those Death Eater Wannabes Sev. What did you want to do tonight?" Rose asked as she placed her hands against his shoulders. She could feel the tension in his shoulders and slowly she started to knead the knots out. Severus's groan of pleasure encouraged Rose on to continue kneading out the knots.

"I keep thinking that she's going to turn away from him, every time I see Potter making a move on her but she doesn't." Severus murmured as Rose continued to knead out the knots in his shoulders. He couldn't look at her, he didn't want her to see how weak he was but he needed to talk to someone. There was no-one else who would listen to him.

"Lily's chosen James, Severus. Besides if she can't forgive you for your mistake then she doesn't deserve you." Rose replied, the words were harsh and cutting but they were true and he needed to hear them. Yes, he made a mistake by calling Lily a 'mudblood' but if Lily couldn't find it in herself to forgive him – her supposedly best friend – then Lily didn't deserve him.

Rose continued to massage Severus's shoulders in silence until she could feel all of the knots had disappeared from his shoulders. Rose moved from where she was standing so that she could lean on the balcony beside Severus. One look at Severus's defeated face and Rose knew that she had gone too far.

"I'm sorry Sev," Rose said softly, at this Severus looked up at Rose. She could see the pain deep in his eyes, the hopelessness he felt, and the crushing weight of losing Lily. "You love her, don't you?" Rose asked softly and Severus quickly looked down in defeat.

"Yes," Severus replied, his deep baritone was broken and the pain was clear in his voice. Rose reached out for him and held his hand as Severus moved to rest his head on her shoulder. Rose looked up into the night sky, the full moon was a night away and she couldn't help but think of Ethan and their pack. They would be suffering tomorrow night and there was nothing here for Ethan to have any comfort unlike America, where she knew the rest of the pack would have at least some comfort during their night of suffering.

Remus, Sirius, James, Peter and Frank had quickly left after Rose had left the great hall. Now the five boys sat around in their dorm room, Remus on the end of his bed, James and Sirius on Sirius's bed and Peter and Frank on James's bed.

"Rose is very pretty, isn't she Remus?" Frank said getting the interrogation rolling. James, Sirius and Frank had been quiet observant of Remus and Rose and of how much time they had been spending together. They had decided that they needed to have a little chat with Remus after they had caught Remus watching Rose pulling off of her shorts before when they had gone down to the lake. They had also caught him watching the girl dry off, her large tee-shirt discarded as she dried her body.

"Yes," Remus growled not understanding where his friends were going with this but not liking it at all either. Remus could feel Moony stirring and it made the boy restless.

"I reckon she could be very naughty if you gave her a reason too, if you know what I mean." Sirius smirked, giving James a nudge in the ribs. Everyone knew that James was infatuated with Lily, what they didn't know was that he too had had a crush on Rose when they were younger and for a moment James was about to get defensive over the girl before he remembered _why_ they were doing this. To get Remus to spill the beans over whether or not he had feelings for Rose and if anything had happened between them. However James didn't need to get defensive as Remus had already jumped to the chase.

"No, don't speak about Rose like that. She's as innocent as they come." Remus growled as he jumped to his feet. Quickly crossing the small space and roughly grabbing the front of Sirius's white shirt.

"Hey, Hey calm down Moony. All we want to know is if anything's happened between you and Rose." James quickly said getting up and pulling Remus away from Sirius as he noticed how quickly this was getting out of hand.

Remus sat down dejectedly. Had anything happened between him and Rose? Not really, although he had tried to kiss her. She didn't reject him completely but she hadn't welcomed his touch either. "No, nothing's happened; although I did _try_ to kiss her. And before you ask, yes I think she's the one." Remus said looking up directly into James's eyes. It was as if a silent conversation passed between the two boys and within seconds the conversation was over and James was smiling brightly which lifted Remus's hope up.

"I'll be happy if she chose you Remus, you deserve someone who'll love you for all of you." James said as he sat back down. James caught a glimpse of the moon from the corner of his eye and he knew that they had one more thing to discuss; how they were going to keep Rose oblivious to the fact that Remus was a werewolf.

Ethan Cox sat at the desk in the Defence against the Dark Art's teacher's office as he marked the third year's papers. He could feel the effects of the moon bearing down upon him, it was tomorrow night after all and although he knew that Mister Lupin may _not_ be prepared for it, Ethan _was!_ In Ethan's seventh year for his "Werewolves 107: An Advance guide to preparing one's self to the full moon" (A class for all the werewolves in his seventh year) Ethan had to create anything to hinder the effects of the full moon as their major project. A lot of the other student's tried to create potions, or spells or charms to hinder the effects and a few tried to create physical objects to hinder the effects as well; Ethan was one of these few, one out of eight to be exact. He had created a physical cage; the metal was infused with wolf's bane a plant that burned a werewolf. The cage was portable and could fold in on itself with a simple charm but could also be strengthened with another charm. The only thing necessary was for the werewolf to be locked in with another charm. Once the werewolf was inside of the cage, he (or she) couldn't be removed until the sun had risen.

Ethan sighed deeply putting down the last essay he had just finished marking and picked up the letter that Hathaway had sent to him. It was pretty much a catch up letter but Hathaway had said something interesting; that he was working with Whitman (a boy quiet similar to the Snape child, at least in his extraordinary abilities with potions, that had been in their year) on a potion to hinder the effects of the full moon on a werewolf. He explained that the potion was to allow the man to keep his mind – something that Ethan and his pack had wished for desperately during their years at W.I.C.C.A, so much so that they had asked Rose for help – and sanity while the man suffered through the night of the full moon. It was quiet an impressive feat if they could achieve their goal. Ethan smiled slightly, he knew with Whitman and Hathaway on the job that they would succeeded in their goal no matter the obstacles. Ethan only hoped that it wouldn't take them too long; he hated the night of the full moon and the easiness that he could hurt someone else and he wondered how Mister Lupin felt about it as he moved over to the window looking out to the object which was the bane of his existence; the moon.

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><p><strong>AN: So what did you guys think of this chapter? Loved it, Hated it? Want to Squeal or Scream? Or do you want to bash your head against the desk as you cry out "why?" I want to know! SO please review. This week's title was inspired by the lyrics "Angel's should never touch ground" if you can tell me who the artist is and what the song is called you get an extra long preview. If you review you still get a preview. And yes at this point Severus is STILL in Love with Lily, and it will be A WHILE before those feelings subside and give way for love of another ^.^**


	12. Chapter 12: Angel's Should Never Fall P2

**A/N: I was not expecting to continue the last chapter, I was simply just going to go onto the next day but this chapter was begging to be written and included and I simply just couldn't stop. In other news I have a new Beta! Thank you to MysteryTears97 for all of your input and hard work to help me get the past few chapters Beta'ed! I hope you'll continue to read and comment. I hope you like the re-edited ending. The boy's are introduced to the concept of Pyra and the "Burning Days." Also Remus's first transformation of the year is coming up soon shortly followed after by Rose's own transformation into Pyra! In other news my little Nephew (who's only a month old) is staying at my house for an indefinite time, as my sister and her fiance are suffering through some domestic problems. Hopefully things will recover there soon so that I can get back to a sleeping properly. Anyways enough ranting from me go read and then I'll met you at the bottom! **

**P.S. HAPPY (early) THANKSGIVINGS! To all of you who celebrate it. **

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><p>Chapter 12 - Angel's Should Never Fall Part 2<p>

"So what is this place?" Rose asked Severus as she moved away from the balcony to start searching for the light source of the room.

"It's Rowena Ravenclaw's secret tower," Severus replied moving away from the balcony to help Rose light up the room. He picked up a stray, unlit candle and pointed his wand at it.

"Incendio," Severus murmured, fire quickly sprouting from his wand and lighting the candle that he had it pointing at. Rose quickly caught on and started looking for the candles spread out around the room. It didn't take them long until the room was completely illuminated. Rose placed the last candle down and watched as it rose into the air to join the other's before she turned around to find Severus sitting in the middle of the room, on what appeared to be a soft black rug. Severus smirked slightly, as Rose made her way over to him, sitting down across from him her legs folded underneath her.

"This place is beautiful Severus; how did you find it?" Rose asked her forest green eyes seemed even darker to Severus in the dim candlelight. Severus couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was, not for the first time that evening. Rose could see how dark Severus's eyes were and she knew that they weren't the same 'dark' colour that they usually were, not because of the dim lighting but because they had taken a deeper, darker depth that was incomprehensible to Rose.

"I had read about it in Hogwarts; a History and like the missing diadem the tower's location was unknown to any living person. So naturally I thought…" Severus replied, answering the question that he had just remembered Rose asking.

"…to go to someone who isn't really living; like a ghost right?" Rose said speaking up. Rose could see in Severus's eyes that he hadn't been expecting her to interrupt but she could also see that it didn't bother him.

"Yea, so naturally I went to find the Grey Lady - who is in fact Ravenclaw's daughter – and well after I asked her politely she told me where to find it." Severus was smirking softly by the time he had finished.

"Who else knows about it?" Rose asked softly as she gazed around the room. Severus reached out and took her hand in his, although saddened by the fact that she was still wearing her gloves he still smiled softly as he looked up into her eyes, which were now fixed on his.

"Only you and I. I was going to tell Lily about it when the time was right but the time never came before things started to fall apart." Severus replied softly. Rose could feel her lips pulling up into a sad smile and not for the first time that night she wondered when the pain would end for her friend.

"Sev," Rose murmured, feeling his pain as if it were her own. Severus looked down for a moment as he pushed away his thoughts of Lily. When Severus met Rose's eyes again she could see his determination clearly in his eyes.

"No, I'm sorry Rose. I promised myself that I wouldn't bring Lily up tonight if you agreed to hang out with me and I've already brought her up twice. I swear on my mother's grave that I won't bring up Lily again tonight." Rose looked at Severus for a moment as worry filled out in her heart, worry for Severus, for all of the things he was feeling and worry because of how much he must have been hurting. She wanted to tell him that she understood, that it was okay to bring Lily up from time to time but the words wouldn't leave her lips. Almost as if her body knew that he didn't want to hear it.

"Alright if you say so Sev; so what did you want to talk about?" Rose asked after a few moments of silence between the two. Their eyes met in the dark room and Severus's dark eyes seemed to be smoldering in the dim light.

"What are your parents like?" Severus asked, the question falling rather reluctantly from his lips. Rose let out a bark of laughter; she honestly hadn't expected him to ask _that_ question out of all the things he could have asked her.

"You're asking me about my parents?" Rose asked after a moment, smiling softly at Severus who was now blushing deeply.

"Yea I guess I am," he replied looking up again to meet her eyes. Rose held his gaze for a moment before she looked out towards the night sky as she pulled her knees up to her chin.

"My mum was and always will be a bitch but my father was a good man. He didn't deserve the lot that my mother gave him; He didn't deserve to die so that my mother could gain favour in you-know-who's eyes. I have my father's eyes you know, I look in the mirror and in my eyes I see my father, I see his courage and strength, I see his humanity but I know that I'm not looking in his eyes. Sometimes I wonder if my father could see me now if he would be proud of me, of my choices but I'll never know, I'll never see him again and it just hurts to think back on him. I miss him Sev" The last four words were but a whisper on Rose's tongue. Severus watched broken-heartedly as a single tear rolled down Rose's snow white skin. He wanted to reach out and comfort the girl but he didn't know if his touch would be welcomed, and it hurt to watch her suffer; almost as if her pain were his own.

"What are your parents like Sev?" Rose asked quietly, still weeping on the inside for her father but her eyes found Severus's again after she wiped the tear away. She saw the uncertainty in his eyes and misunderstood its meaning. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No; it's okay. I… I want to tell you." Severus said quickly stopping Rose before she could say that she "understood" again. "My mother was the witch in our family and my father the muggle but that's where our family 'similarities' end. My father was an abusive drunk, he'd come home every night and he'd abuse my mother, physically, sexually. I could hear her screaming every night, I hated him. He took my mother's wand away, snapped it in half and then whenever she was brave enough to buy another one he would snap it as soon as he found it before punishing her more than he usually did. He hated me even more when he found out that I was a wizard, he tried to kill me a few times. He always said that he was doing a favour for the 'greater good.' There was hardly any hope for me except for Hogwarts; and Lily." Severus's voice broke on Lily's name it was painful for him to speak about her and Rose could hear his pain clearly in his voice. His own thoughts screamed the pain that he suffered as a child.

"May I see Sev?" Rose asked as she started to take off her left glove. Severus gave her a short nod of his head and continued to watch as she pulled off her black gloves revealing the snow white skin of her hands. Rose reached out for Severus's hands, there was a look of doubt in his eyes for a moment before he reached out half way and held her smaller hands in his.

"I trust that you won't go telling people what you're about to see Rose." Severus said softly knowing that she would hear none the less in the silent room before he opened up his mind to her; letting the memories of his father pour out.

_Large male hands shaped into fists flew in all directions as the memories poured out. Pained screams filled the air, screams of a child in pain. There was a small raven haired boy sitting in the corner, tears streaking down his cheeks as he looked at his father, the older Snape's hands curled into fists, pounding into the bruised and bleeding flesh of the women (_Whom Rose assumed was Severus's mother)._ Rose reached out to comfort the little boy but before she could touch him, the memory swarmed and another took its place._

_Severus was older now, his features were even more angular now than they had been in the previous memory but he was still young, still a child suffering from his father's abusive nature, a child still too young to escape the Snape home and flee for Hogwarts. _

"_Mum! Mum!" Severus yelled as he ran into the house, when he found her in the kitchen slaving over the oven as usual he pulled to a stop. The large smile was evident on the boy's face and Rose couldn't help but smile as well. "Mum! I did magic! I finally did magic!" Severus yelped, the excitement rolling off of him in waves and burning deeply within his eyes. When his mother didn't say anything he asked softly "Aren't you proud of me?"_

"_Oh she probably is very proud of you, boy!" Mister Snape sneered as he entered into the room. "But I've made it impossible for her to say otherwise, haven't I dear?" He continued to sneer as he approached his wife turning her around – roughly - to face her son. Her lips were sown shut, the black string standing out strikingly against her pale skin. _

"_Mum?" Severus asked softly, horrified at what his father did he turned on the older man and screamed "You monster! You did this to her! You're a fucking monster." Rose watched in horror as Mister Snape back-handed his son, who – from the force of the hit – spun on the spot as he tumbled to the ground. The crunch of bone breaking was the only evidence of how hard the slap had been as Severus refused to show any signs of weakness in front of his father. _

_Mister Snape grabbed roughly at the hairs on the back of Severus's head and pulled tightly until the boy was a meter off of the floor, bending backwards at the back. Rose could see that the bones that had been broken were in his nose as the crooked angle did not look natural and she watched horrified and helpless as the blood ran from the end of his nose down into his mouth. "I did that to her because she wouldn't speak to me with the respect that I expect from her. If you can't learn to shut your trap boy it will be your turn next." Mister Snape sneered and then roughly shoved away his son._

_The memory shifted again and Severus was standing before her, he wasn't a little boy anymore in fact he looked exactly like she knew him to look. He was in a heated argument with Mister Snape and Severus's lip was curled up into a snarl._

"_I'm not going to be returning at the end of the year, father" Severus sneered his eyes flashing dangerously as his father stood up. Mister Snape's fists went flying towards Severus's stomach again and Severus doubled over in pain. His father's fists continued to hit Severus over and over again until Severus couldn't stand on his own two feet. It was as if by now that this was a sick and twisted game to Mister Snape._

"_We'll see if that's the case when you realize you have _nowhere_ else to go boy," Mister Snape sneered giving his son one more kick in the ribs for good measure. The memory ended with Severus glaring at his father's back as the older Snape walked away._

When Rose was back in her own body she leaped at Severus tugging up his shirt. She knew that that last memory had only happened the night before Severus was to catch the Hogwarts express. Severus tried to stop her but Rose was too quick and with the angry red markings that covered the flesh around her eyes showing strikingly against her pale skin Severus didn't have the will to stop her.

Rose was furious when she found the black and blue bruises that covered Severus's pale chest. When she pulled back Severus could still see the angry red marks around her eyes and was for a moment slightly scared of the girl sitting before him.

Rose quickly got up and walked away from Severus. She couldn't help herself from slamming her fists onto the top of the balcony when she reached it, hoping that the pain would clear her head slightly. There was no point for her to lose control over herself when there was nothing that she could do about that sick twisted monster that was 'Mister Snape'. It was cruel that Severus had to suffer through all of that, that his mother had suffered through all of it. It was stupid that Severus didn't seek out help but there was nothing that she could do to help him, nothing at all.

"Rose, are you okay?" Severus asked once he had fixed up his clothing. Rose smiled grimly at the very idea that Severus was asking if _she_ was 'okay' and not the other way around.

"I'm fine Sev, just fine. It's strange to think that if your mother and my father had fallen for each other instead of our other parents that we would have been brothers and sisters." Rose said softly after a moment, the night-time air already working it's magic on her nerves.

"I'm kind of glad that that isn't the case." Severus replied softly as he made his way over to her. His hands gently squeezed her shoulders when he had reached her, slowly kneading out the knots he found in her shoulders.

"Why is that Sev?" Rose asked before a small feminine groan escaped her blood red lips.

"Because if it wasn't already for the fact that I am in love with someone else; I could easily see myself falling for you." Severus whispered softly in her ear before he continued with his ministrations.

It seemed as if an eternity had passed between them, Severus working out his ministrations on her shoulders as Rose watched the night sky, before Rose asked "Sev?"

"Hmm?" Severus replied

"What are you going to tell Lucius when he asks you about tonight?" Rose asked softly turning around to face the young man she had spent her evening with. She realized how close they were when she had turned around and it caused her to blush slightly.

"I'm going to tell him that we talked about it for a while and even though you were tempted to join us, the Gryffindor in you won out and refused to do so." Severus replied; his eyes darkening as he realized how close they were. For a moment they leaned in towards each other, their lips were centimetres apart, their noses barely brushing against each other when Rose realized what was about to happen and for a moment she considered letting it happen before she pulled away.

"I'm sorry Severus but I think I should get back to my dorm. Will you walk with me?" Rose asked softly as she pulled away from him. Severus blinked a few times as if he was trying to wake up from a daydream and then his cheeks reddened furiously at his own embarrassment.

"Sure," Severus managed to get out and he was elated that his voice didn't choke.

The walk back to Gryffindor tower was a quiet one. Neither Severus nor Rose said anything but when Severus's thoughts started becoming louder Rose pulled up her mental walls again, it wasn't long until they found themselves outside of Gryffindor tower.

"Goodnight Sev," Rose said softly smiling up at Severus. He leaned over and gently brushed his lips against her cheek.

"Goodnight Rose," He replied before walking away. Rose reached up and touched her right cheek – where he had kissed her – as she told the Fat Lady the password.

Remus, James, Sirius and Lily were the only ones in the common room when Rose entered into the room and they pounced on her as soon as they saw her. Gathering her in a tight group hug, clinging onto the girl as if she would disappear again the moment they released her.

"Where were you?" Sirius and James demanded when they had finally released her.

"I was out with a friend. I _told_ you that James." Rose replied stiffly. _Is it really their business to know whom you were with?_ A voice asked in the back of her mind. Rose pushed it away knowing that _she_was not due for another few days.

"Yes but we looked for you on the map and we couldn't find you; so we got worried." James replied, his concern evident in his eyes. Rose let out a sigh, she really didn't want to discuss this right now but they have the right to know, don't they? _It's none of their business, just go up to your room and ignore their demeaning questions._ The voice whispered again and Rose pushed it away once more; it would do no good to listen to _her_.

"You were with Snape, weren't you?" Lily said from her place against the couch. Lily leaned against the back of said couch, with an air of nonchalance, her arms crossed against her chest and her fiery red hair curling around her face like an angry red halo but the look in her eyes spoke volumes that Rose wasn't completely ignorant of.

"Yes I was with _Severus_. He's not as horrible as you all make him out to be. He made a mistake Lily, one single mistake and now he's burning in his own inferno paying the price of that mistake because you can't find it in your heart to forgive him. I'm proud of my father Lily and he was a _muggle_! If you can't accept who you are then you're going to get dragged down every time someone calls you a "mudblood" rather than having the power to be a better person by ignoring their words. He told me of his father Lily! His _muggle_ father, who _should_ be condemned by the black and blue marks on his son! Right now he needs a friend and because you can't find it in your heart to forgive him, I'm stepping in and I'm not going to stop being his friend no matter what people say, and no matter what comes out of _his_mouth." Rose sneered, her blood bubbled and boiled in her veins and she could feel her other-half rejoicing in her rage, she could feel her screaming and trying to escape, and Rose knew instantly that the angry red marks - that were a sure sign of her other-half gaining control - were on display for her friends to see.

Rose breathed in and out repeatedly until her blood cooled down. She turned from a shocked Lily then to Sirius, James and Remus.

"Okay first of all Sirius, stopping insulting him in front of me, whether it's in your head or coming out of your mouth _I_ can still hear it. And yes I would tell anyone - whomever they might be not to insult my friends. Secondly Remus, Snape's a good guy and so are you and no nothing happened, he's _devoted_ to someone else. And thirdly James, I know you have the need to show off your dominance, you had that particular need when we were younger and you still do but please, please try and be civil towards him for me or at _least_ don't go out of your way to attack him. You're the closest thing I have to a brother, I don't want to be torn between you and Severus; I don't want to have to choose sides, so please for my sake at least _try_." Rose said turning to each of the boys in turn. A loud _crack_ echoed around the room and Rose held her hand to her cheek in surprise as pain bloomed into her face. She looked up into Sirius's face and there was a scowl twisting his lips as he shook his hand furiously.

"How dare you talk to Lily like that! And honestly I don't give a fuck if Snape has daddy issues. He can go a take a swim with the giant squid for all I care." Sirius's scowl grew and as Rose backed away from him she bumped into Lily who had come to stand behind her. Rose quickly turned around to face the girl behind her and was caught – yet again – by surprise as Lily's hand connected with her other cheek. Lily's quick intake of breath followed by a yelp of pain startled Rose from her boiling blood to the fiery red head in front of her. Even her other-half's evil cackling was drowned out as Rose focused on Lily's broken hand, which was being cradled to her chest.

"Lily what happened?" James ask as he moved away from the three boys to the woman he loved, watching her cradle her hand to her chest, tears trickling down her cheeks.

"I think I broke my hand when I slapped her," Lily replied her voice breaking on a sob. James took Lily's hands into his own and as he looked down onto her small hand he realized that it wasn't broken but that it had angry red blisters covering her palm.

"We ought to take you to Madam Pompfry Lil's. Rose wait here I want to have a chat with you when we get back. Sirius, Remus can you come with us." James asked politely, the two other Marauders nodded their head and followed James out of the Gryffindor common room.

She could feel the cracks in her cheeks and around her eyes slowly fade away as they healed as Rose made her way over to the couch to wait for her friends. After what felt like an eternity of silence in the empty common room she could hear not only footsteps approaching but James's very familiar 'inner voice' as his thoughts streamed in towards her.

"_Do you think she's dangerous? I mean you are the expert on dangerous Remus"_ Rose heard the conversation playing back to hear from James mind.

"_Very funny James but honestly I don't know, I mean she's like your sister right? You'd know her better than anyone. However I think she has the power to do harm but she won't, she's not heartless like her mother or worse you-know-who. She's one of us, a Marauder James, she won't harm anyone." _Remus replied. Rose could kiss him right then; he was standing up in her defence, even against her doubting non biological brother.

"_If she's not dangerous than what happened tonight? How did she burn Lily and Sirius?" _James asked concern still deep in his voice, from his emotions though Rose could tell that it wasn't just concern for Lily and Sirius but for herself as well.

"_Honestly I think it was a lack of control. She seemed a bit off when she entered the room. I have a feeling that it has something to do with her "curse", like with myself the madness within constantly haunts me it simply only comes out once a month." _Remus replied softly as not to be heard. He told the Fat Lady the password as they approached the door and James chuckled softly to himself.

"_Yea I guess you're the expert on the madness within." _James replied once his chuckling had settled down. Rose's head was still in her hands when the two boys entered into the room. For a moment she thought that they had not noticed her until she could hear their footsteps approaching her.

"Rose, we need to talk." James said softly as he sat down on Rose's left. Remus took the seat to her right and turned towards his friends.

"James I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened. One minute I'm trying to control Pyra from lashing out at Sirius and Lily the next minute I'm getting slapped in the face. She's part of the curse James, I can barely control her when it's not the burning days and when it is she takes over completely." Rose said softly trying to explain away her rampant emotions as she held her head in her hands. "Are they okay?" Rose asked, her tears falling freely now. She leaned her head against James' chest as he pulled her closer towards him.

"They are fine, Madam Pompfry was surprised when we explained to her what happened but she was able to cure them." James replied releasing Rose once her crying had slowed down. Remus gave her hand a squeeze but didn't release her hand.

"Whatever this is Rose, whatever you're going through we're here for you. Please just remember that." Remus said softly, Rose nodded her head slowly in understanding. He was offering help and it would feel so good to take it but none of them could help her, not unless if she wanted them to burn along with her. This was simply something that she had to do alone.

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><p><strong>AN: For those of you who want a more indepth explination of Pyra please send me a review or PM with your questions and I'll happily answer them for you. Last weeks and this weeks title is inspired from the lyrics "Because an Angel should never touch ground". If you can tell me what the artist and song is called then you get an extra long preview (500 words max) and if not a shorter preview (250 words max). Can't wait to hear what you all think!**


	13. Chapter 13: Monday Nights and Full Moon

**A/N: I sincerly apologize for the agonizingly long wait for this chapter. I could make up so many excuses to pretend as why it's so late but the truth is that life cheet's you and time flies by, before long two weeks had passed since I last updated and I knew that I had to start finding the time and motivation to continue to write this and I sincerly thank my Beta for helping me get motivated again. In other news my old Beta Andie-PotterSnape finally got back to me =D there's not much that I can say towards this chapter but I hope you enjoy it and that you leave a REVIEW so that I know there are people actually reading this!**

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><p>Chapter 13 - Monday Nights and Full moon Blights<p>

Sunday had passed quickly and yet slowly for Rose. She had spent it in her room for most of the time trying to avoid Lily and Sirius and only coming down twice and both times were to get something to eat. Rose went down to the kitchens for a late brunch and to the actual Great Hall for dinner. Sunday had passed and now? Now, it was Monday and it was just another day of intellectual growth aka 'Learning'.

"Welcome class, please take a seat. Today I'll be starting to teach you advanced defensive spells. Crabbe, Goyle separate seats please." Professor Cox said as he made his way up to the front of the classroom and turning to face the sixth years when he had reached his desk. With a flick of his wand, the chandelier in the middle of the ceiling lit up. There was a slight smirk on Ethan's face as he watched some of his students jump in surprise. Rose noticed that Ethan had dressed in a simple blue button-down, the first few buttons were undone and Rose could slightly see the tips of his pectorals through the slight opening of his shirt. She could feel Remus riling up next to her as he noticed her noticing Ethan. Rose smirked slightly as well, at the attention she was getting from Remus.

"Now for a little pop quiz. There will be fifteen questions on the sheets that I'm going to be passing out to you guys. Answer them to the best of your abilities and I will return these to you the next time I see you guys." Ethan said as he flicked his wand at the four piles of sheets on the desk next to him, causing the sheets to fly out from the desk and float in between the four rows of student desks.

Rose looked down at the sheet in front of her for a moment before her eyes fluttered closed, searching within her mind for the walls surrounding it. She could feel brick at every point she turned and she could feel small cracks as she ran figurative hands over the brick walls. Reaching within herself she felt all around the brick wall and moulded it, shifted it from brick to thick walls made of diamond. She made sure that the walls were impenetrable before she opened her eyes and looked up to Ethan, lowering her head slightly and rising it up slightly before lowering her head back to its normal level - all of this taking place within a few seconds and millimetres - a very small and quick nod to let Ethan know that she was ready, that she wasn't going to cheat even if she could because cheating wasn't something that good girls do.

Ethan recognized her nod and his smirk grew larger, he could remember the times he and his pack tried to cheat on their exams - after Rose had given in to their request - before she reached into their minds and put up mental walls that they couldn't break down until the next time Rose saw them, which would most likely be later on in the evening at dinner.

"Alright your time starts now." Ethan started the timer on his watch as he said 'now'. Rose looked down at the paper before her, and saw that question one was '_name__one__defensive__spell__that__can_'repel' _Dementors?__'_

Rose could feel herself flying through the questions, her quill flying across the page as she scribbled down her answers. The ink spluttered against her pale skin, as she continued to write, the black splotches looking like dark bloodstains on her pale, snow-white skin.

Twenty minutes later Ethan called the class to stop, waving his wand to pause their hands until he had collected their papers.

Rose left her wall in place but shifted it back to its usual brick-like state. It would have depleted her energy more if she had kept the diamond sheets as her mental walls instead of changing them back to their original state.

"Alright now that that's over with we will spend half of this class learning techniques for non-verbal magic, and the other half we will start to learn how to perform the '_Expecto__Patronum__' _spell. Now get into groups of two, No same house groups. So I want a Slytherin and a Gryiffindor paired together, no complaints Misters Crabbe, Goyle, Potter, Black and Pettigrew it gives you motivation to make this as real as possible and _not_ to hold back." Ethan spoke calmly as he gave out his instructions to his students. Only slightly raising his voice with an iron grip firmness as he saw the looks on the boy's faces. Rose looked around for a Slytherin she could trust and noticed that Severus had already been partnered up with James. Rose felt a wave of concern engulf her heart but pushed it aside, knowing that both boys could hold their own as long as their backs weren't turned. Rose looked around in search of a suitable partner and found that most people had already been paired up. There was lip-licker, Lestrange, Parkinson, Greengrass or Bellatrix from Slytherin to pair up with. Rose made her way over to Bellatrix; ready to ask the girl to pair up with her but was cut off before she could reach the girl.

"Hey Ashmore," Lestrange said as he stepped in front of the girl. Rose's left eyebrow raised itself, indicating the girl's curiosity with a quizzical look.

"Yes Lestrange?" Rose replied sticking to his last name as he had stuck to hers.

"Let's partner up, I want to see how well you'll do once you have a real opponent. Seeing as I didn't get to verse you the other day." Lestrange said, a smirk gracing his pale brown lips.

"Sure, I'm game." Rose replied, her own smirk gracing her lips. Lestrange looked taken aback for a moment but then cleared his face of any emotion - as any other Slytherin would do - and took out his mahogany brown wand and he raised it against her.

"You ready Ashmore?" Lestrange sneered, but there was a twinkle in his eyes which very unusual seeing that he was after all a Slytherin.

"Funny I was about to ask you the same thing," Rose replied with a smirk brandishing her own wand. Rose quickly sent a silent _"Expelliarmus"_at Lestrange. Quickly followed by a wand-less and silent _Bat__Bogey__Hex._ Lestrange's yelp of surprise when his wand flew out of his hand, and he started flapping his arms like bat wings made Rose give a bark of laughter. She just as quickly took the hex off of him.

Rose was surprised when he snarled "Again," she had expected him to make a complaint or make up some excuse as to why she had won so quickly but he didn't and Rose was quite surprised and to be frank happy that he was ready to take her on without making any complaints. They duelled again this time working together, their wands flying as well as the curses. Before Rose could realize what they were doing, Lestrange had disarmed her and his wand was pressing into her neck.

"Well that went better than I had expected it to," Lestrange said give her a slight smirk but there was amusement in his eyes so Rose could not find it in herself to be worried.

"Well considering how close your standing, plus the fact that you have your wand pressing into me, I'd say it didn't go as well for me," Rose smirked as well at her own pun. "Again," Rose said as she backed up again, with Lestrange mimicking her actions.

"Alright but just to let you know I won't hold back," Lestrange replied dramatically, the smirk still in place as he sent a "Jelly-legs" jinx at Rose. Which made her fall to the ground as her legs gave way underneath her. Lestrange gave her a hand to help her up, his smirk still firmly in place as he said "That's two to one Ashmore; I thought you were better than that." There was no need to say anything else as they stepped away from each other, smirks planted firmly in place, their body's stances ready to duel, and smiles in their eyes as they continued to duel and before long the class was over, but the score was hardly settled between them. With Rose having won seven times, and Lestrange winning five times.

"Miss Ashmore can I talk to you for a minute," Ethan asked. Rose nodded her head at her "professor" and waited for the rest of the class leave. Remus shot Ethan a dirty look, and barely even looked at Rose before he too left with Sirius, Peter and James.

"What's up Coxly?" Rose asked her voice soft and gentle as she talked to one of her closest friends, heck the one out of three guys who could ever be considered her "Older Brother".

"I need you to stop by here after your last class today, I'm sure I don't have to explain to you why though just so you know, I need help with 'setting up' a few things." Ethan said his eyes searching hers to see if she understood without him saying too much.

"Alright, I'll be here before the sun sets." Rose promised, smiling softly at the man she loved and trusted as if he really were her own brother. "And by the way you look incredible in that semi-suit. Are you trying to impress anyone?" Rose asked, semi-jokingly. However she was curious as to why Ethan had dressed up for, he hardly ever dressed up unless if it was something important or to impress a woman.

"I'll tell you later, but it certainly wasn't to get a job or to go to a funeral." Ethan replied with a cheeky smile.

"Alright later," Rose agreed, happy to see Ethan happy especially on a full moon day. Rose left the class with a smile on her face, excited and yet dreading her return later this evening.

Time quickly flew by, and her final class of the afternoon was over. Rose walked with her friends until they reached the staircases.

"I'll see you guys later." Rose said to all of them and then as an afterthought added "Bye Remus," before she turned away to make her way over to Ethan's classroom.

Rose didn't see the look that the three Marauders and Frank shot at Remus as her back was turned to them but Lily had and the knowing the smirk on her face was all the evidence that the boys needed if they had even noticed her smirk.

"Come on Lily, or Goyle and Crabbe will eat all the food," James smirked at the love of his life. Lily took James' hand in hers, planted a chaste kiss on his lips and started walking down the stairs, towards the kitchen with her boyfriend.

Rose was already at Coxly's classroom and just beyond was his office and quarters. She didn't pause to knock on the door and was quite rewarded for her mistake when she stumbled upon Coxly and Professor Aurora Sinistra. Rose quickly backed out of the room before she could see anymore and knocked on the door to allow Ethan to know that she was here.

After a moment of waiting, Professor Sinistra exited the room quickly glancing at Rose, studying the girl quietly before she walked away. Once Professor Sinistra was out of eyesight Rose entered into the room, where Ethan was readjusting his clothing. Ethan shot her a cheeky look that partially said I-got-caught-in-the-act-but-I-don't-care.

"So Professor Sinistra eh?" Rose asked trying to break the awkward silence. Ethan finished readjusting his clothing and turned to lean on his desk behind him.

"Yea, Professor _Aurora_Sinistra." Ethan replied that same adorably cheeky caught-in-the-act look still on his face. "But that wasn't what I asked you to come here for. I need your help to get me in 'the cage'; it's in my spare room. But first things first, I heard from Hathaway he's working with Whitman on a potion that allows a werewolf to keep his mind and sanity while in the form of the wolf." Ethan said happily the excitement and anticipation evident in his voice and eyes, that plus the fact that he was bouncing up and down like a child on a sugar high or on Christmas morning.

"Good for them, I just wonder how much work they are actually getting done considering they both had a crush on each other for quite sometime." Rose replied happy for Hathaway even though she wasn't a supporter of the gay movement. "Well we better move so I can help you get into 'the cage'. I mean it is already kind of cutting it close." Rose said silently indicating that Ethan should show her the way.

"Alright it's back there in my quarters. I levitated it into one of my spare back rooms." Ethan said as he made his way into his quarters. The door leading into it was wide ajar and Rose wondered for a moment if Professor Sinistra and Ethan had been using his quarters before she arrived. The state of the massy bed an Ethan's scarlet cheeks answered her question.

"Sorry that the place is in such a mess. The rooms just back here." Ethan said quickly moving towards where he had indicated. Rose quickened her stride to keep up with him and felt sorry for her "brother" and his embarrassment.

"It's quite alright Ethan, you deserve a little happiness." Rose replied, her cheeks flushing brightly at the obvious 'happiness' he was receiving.

"Thanks Rose, that means a lot coming from you," Ethan replied as he entered into the room, Rose only a few steps behind him. "Well there it is, if you could set it up that would be great. I would do it myself but it would burn me and I don't want to be burnt more than necessary tonight." Ethan said softly, his eyes down cast. Rose's eyes fell upon the torture contraption Ethan had made for his sole use. She didn't want to set this up, so that he could only torture himself but she couldn't allow a werewolf to be loose on the castle grounds either so she literally had no choice but to help him.

Rose pulled out her wand and pointed it at the bulging pile of metal and said "Constructo," She could see the magic taking place as the pile of metal started to take it's form, the pieces quickly falling into place. Before long everything was in place. The key remained sitting where it was. "Accio key," Rose said, her wand moving from the cage to the key. It shot up into the air and flew into her hand at her command.

"As soon as you're ready Ethan," Rose said to the man beside her, who had a forlorn look on his face.

"I can't wait until Hathaway and Whitman are finish with their work." Ethan snarled as he started undressing until he was in nothing but his underwear. "Alright I'm ready," Ethan said to Rose before approaching the open cage.

"Make sure you put a silencing charm on the rooms, No-one but Dumbledore and you and of course I know that there is a werewolf on the grounds." Ethan said as he placed a chaste kiss on Rose's forehead. "And Rose don't come back up here to let me out until the sun has risen, no matter what thoughts you may receive from me." Ethan said softly, as he could already feel the burning sensations in his feet. He strained to keep his screaming locked in but Rose could see the pain in his eyes.

"I will," Rose replied gently, before she cast _"Alohormora"_on the cage. Rose made her way out of the room, placing "silencio"'s and "Alohormora"'s on all of the rooms as she left each individual one. She hated what the full moon did to her 'brothers' but there was nothing that she could do about it; Lycanthropy was just simply something that you can never recover from. Not even her tears could heal them.

Lily, James, Sirius and Peter sat on the left hand side of the Gryffindor table as Remus, Alice and Frank sat on the right hand side. The girls were in a quiet discussion of their meeting this ending for the Halloween Ball and the boys were talking about Qudditch as they enjoyed vulgar amounts of food.

"So what was that that I caught between you and Rose before," Sirius asked before he ripped another piece of chicken apart with his teeth. Remus blushed slightly at his friends question but sighed deeply as well before he answered. "It was nothing and no mornings going on between us. I like the girl but I think she's into Snape. I mean the way she defends him and hangs out with him is evidence that they are more than friend's right?" Remus asked softly, slightly depressed about the whole situation.

"Well if Snape thinks he has any chance with your girl Remus then we'll sort him straight won't we James? Sirius?" Peter said jumping in on the conversation. He always hated being left out and it was quiet obvious to the other three Marauders.

"Of course," Sirius and James answered with the same mischievous smirks gracing their faces.

"Let's not get too hasty, I think Rose is just torn between the two of you. I don't think she knows either of you well enough to make a decision like that, especially when it's obvious how smart and wise she is." Frank stated wisely but there was a fire in his eyes as he defended his new friend. Frank was a Gryffindor through and through.

"Even so I don't think you should act on anything just yet Remus, especially not _tonight._" Lily added in as she had been drawn towards the boys' conversation. Lily shot Remus a look that practically said not-with-your-'condition'.

"Hey Guys what were you talking about?" Rose asked as she sat down in her usual seat beside Remus.

"Nothing" They all chimed in together at the same time. Rose smirked slightly at the blush on Remus's cheeks.

"What were you up to anyway?" James asked from across the table.

"Professor Cox wanted to talk to me about the accident last week but I told him that I was fine now and that there won't be anything else like that happening." Rose said before noticing the potato salad, creamed corn and roasted pork spread out on the table before them.

"Alright well we have to go," James said as he stood up, giving the other three Marauders a look that literally said time-to-go. "Yea, we have homework to do." Sirius added as he too stood up. "Yea, potions homework really boring stuff" Peter added as he too stood up. Remus gave Rose an apologetic look before he too stood up and adding "We'll see you guys later." The four boys left the table together. Rose watched them leave curiosity evident in her eyes.

"Where are we going to have the meeting tonight," Rose asked Lily without actually looking up at her, after she had finished what she placed on her plate. She still felt horrible for what had happened the other night.

"Huh, Alice did you hear that? I thought someone was talking but nobody's there." Lily said a sneer on her pretty face. Rose bristled to the threat that Lily was posing at but fortunately Alice kicked in, standing firmly on neutral ground. "Okay first of all that's not very nice Lily. Secondly Rose, we are meeting in the Transfiguration classroom for the Halloween Ball meeting." Alice's words rang with a finality that Rose could not ignore. The words itself held little meaning but the undertone to those words were what really had Rose moving. The undertone spoke volumes, stating clearly that she was either with them, and would join the meeting, or not, and would spend the night alone. Alice was giving Rose a choice and it was barely even a choice between the two for it was an instant decision for Rose as she got up out of her chair.

"I will meet up with you soon; there are some things that I must take care of first." Was Rose's reply to Alice whom simply nodded her head. Even the scornful look on Lily's face did not dissuade Rose from what was already set in her mind. She meant it when she said she would meet them later but first she had to speak with Professor Dumbledore.

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><p><strong>AN2: So what did you think, I was going to have the scene between Rose/Lestrange be shorter but I wanted to expand on their banter and the easiness between the two even if it is in slightly hostile terms. And what did you think of Lily's behaviour to Rose? I WANT to know what you think and since I'm not telepathic like Rose you need to leave a review below. So get moving! Oh and last weeks title was Inspired from the song "Beautiful Girl" by Broken Iris. Check it out it's amazing!**

**Songs so far for those of you who are keeping track with the novel's playlist:**

- "Lion" by Rebecca St James

- "Strange" by Tokio Hotel ft. Kerli

- "Taking Chances" The Glee Version

- "Beautiful Girl" by Broken Iris


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